Sunday, July 19, 2009

High Speed Rail Pre-Applications

Pennsylvania applied for 4 federal grants for high speed rail from the $8 Billion pie:

1.Keystone East Corridor Harrisburg to Philadelphia. – This would be improving the already existing electrified service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. This should be the first priority for high-speed rail and I'm glad to see it made the list.

2.Scranton to New York Rail Passenger Rail Service Program. – This would be a high-speed(?) rail service from Scranton to New York. This is a good idea but I don't see how it could possibly be considered high-speed rail, there is no way it will go about 70 miles an hour on the route they are going to have it take.

3.Pittsburgh High-Speed Magnetic Levitation Project. This would be a Maglev, or magnetic levitation line from Pittsburgh International Airport to Monroeville/Greensburg. – This is a waste of money but has been on the books for years. Maglev just doesn't pay off. It costs way too much for what it provides.

4.Keystone West Harrisburg to Pittsburgh High-Speed Rail Feasibility and Business Plan Study. – This would just be a study to expand high speed electrified rail service from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. This should be the second priority in our state for high speed rail. The state should really put some money towards upgrading this to 110 mile an hour track like the east side of the state.

It is a shame that Pennsylvania wasn't more ambitious. It appears that some states asked for a lot more. The Lehigh Valley also stands to get no piece of the pie for rail service to either New York or Philadelphia which is a shame considering it is the third biggest metropolitan area.

Read more at: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090718/NEWS/907180355/-1/rss01

Trail Moves Foward

New walking and biking trail linking Coopersburg to Hellertown planned

July 10, 2009

Plans for an eight-mile walking and biking trail linking Coopersburg to Hellertown have taken a significant step forward.

Attorneys for SEPTA and the four municipalities that would host the trail met June 23 and have reached an agreement in principle on a $1-a-year 30-year lease of an abandoned rail bed that will become the trail.

The agreement could be ratified by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority's board in September, and approved by the four municipalities' governing bodies soon thereafter, said Hellertown Borough Manager Charles Luthar.

''[Municipal officials] will have a chance to look at the language. The engineers and attorneys have been looking at it,'' Luthar said. Topics of discussion have included maintenance of the trail and removal of railroad signal infrastructure, said Lower Saucon Township manager Jack Cahalan.

The municipalities have agreed to maintain the walking and biking surface, but do not want to be responsible for structures such as bridges.

SEPTA will leave its equipment intact, but remove any environmental hazards, Cahalan said.

''SEPTA retains the right of reversion, which means that if they want to bring back train service, they can notify us and take back control of the trail,'' Cahalan said.

The four municipalities hope to be able to open the trail to the public in the spring after resurfacing it, probably with gravel. Cahalan said he has been getting calls about using the trail, but he said people should stay off the rail bed for now, until it can be improved, and opened to the public in spring 2010.

Once the lease is approved by all four municipalities, the next step would be to create a steering committee and come up with funding to make improvements, he said.

Cahalan said the four municipalities plan to apply to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for a grant.



Well this article published in the Morning Call makes the chances of rail service being restored to the Lehigh Valley to Philadelphia look quite unlikely.