LANTA Gives Support to Passenger Rail Study

The Morning Call ran another article today about the fact that LANTA has finally endorsed the study for returning passenger rail to the Leigh Valley. It's good to see that change is finally coming to the organization. The some board members seem to view it as more of a pipe dream.

LANTA gives support to passenger-rail study
The transportation authority won't necessarily endorse conclusions to be reached

By Dan Hartzell OF THE MORNING CALL

August 13, 2009

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority has endorsed a study aimed at determining the feasibility of restoring passenger-rail service between the Lehigh Valley and New York City.

The $250,000 review isn't new. In fact, LANTA board member Anne McHale said Tuesday she'd seen colleague Paul Marin's presentation about it so often that she hoped he wouldn't mind if she left the room next time he gave it.

''I don't need to see it again,'' she said with a laugh.

But after Marin's report, McHale, who as a Northampton County councilwoman supported the county's $75,000 contribution to the study, suggested LANTA should formally endorse the study. Her motion to that effect was approved by voice vote, without dissent, at the authority's monthly meeting in Allentown on Tuesday.

Executive Director Armando Greco said the vote represents LANTA approval of the study, though not necessarily any conclusions it might reach.

Marin, who also serves as treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., which contributed $100,000 to the study, said it should be completed by February. Lehigh County also allocated $75,000 to the consultant's review. LANTA has contributed no money.

Through the years, area political leaders have offered mixed views on whether passenger trains can, or should, return to the area after vanishing decades ago.

Some, including Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Michael Kaiser, have said the area's population, despite rapid growth, isn't nearly dense enough to support rail financially.

A year ago, Kaiser said that if a related study by New Jersey Transit recommends extending its Raritan Valley commuter rail line by about 21 miles from High Bridge to Phillipsburg, he'd reconsider the viability of a final link from there to the Valley. The Raritan line runs to Newark, N.J., where passengers can transfer to trains into New York.

Asked for an update Wednesday, Kaiser didn't exactly withdraw last year's comment, but he remained skeptical about passenger rail returning to the Valley.

''There will probably be further studies after this study,'' he said of the transit study and its local addendum.

Many significant obstacles remain, he said: ''I learned my skepticism early in life, and I don't consider that a bad thing. My job is to look at the facts and try to make decisions based on that.''

Marin and other rail proponents insist the time is right to push for passenger trains, particularly with Washington stoking the ailing economy. Rail projects can qualify for $8 billion in stimulus funding, Marin said, adding that 275 ''pre-applications'' for the money already have steamed into Washington, representing more than $100 billion in project proposals.

''What's beginning to happen is, there are signs of political will changing in Washington,'' Marin said. Passenger-rail restoration ''is going to happen through federal funding and leadership; we are at the front end of creating a national rail network'' not unlike the development of the interstate highway system 50 years ago, he said.

At its July meeting, the board welcomed two new members. Michelle Griffin Young replaced Donald J. Mahoney as a Lehigh County representative, and Lazaro G. Fuentes replaced Timothy J. Brady as a member from Northampton County.

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.

LANTA unveils 12-year plan for future

The Morning Call ran this article on June 23, 2009. It says that LANTA views providing bus service to rail stations in the next 12 years. Despite not actively endorsing rail service or helping actively bring it back, LANTA does appear to believe it will have a future role as a feeder service. This is good to see considering the ability to have connecting transit service to the train is important as the service itself. Without the ability to interconnect with the LANTA system, many people will be discouraged from using rail due to the inability to get to their final destination. So while LANTA might still not be behind rail, they seem to plan on taking some kind of positive role in the future.

LANTA unveils 12-year plan for future

Recommendations include more 'through routes,' better service to business, education and employment centers Public attendance was limited, but the comments were positive Monday regarding the long-range plan being developed by the Lehigh Valley's public bus agency.

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority's ''Moving LANTA Forward'' plan features consultant's recommendations including more effective use of ''core routes'' such as Tilghman Street/Union Boulevard, Hamilton Street/Hanover Avenue, and Susquehanna Street/Broadway; increasing the number of ''through routes'' between major destinations with fewer stops and transfers, and more frequent service to existing and emerging employment and business centers such as Fogelsville, the Sands casino, Airport Center shopping plaza and Lehigh Carbon Community College.

Further down the road, Abrams-Cherwony Group of Philadelphia also proposes development of ''bus rapid-transit'' concepts such as dedicated bus lanes and limited traffic-signal pre-emption, and the development of ''satellite hubs'' with links to the existing service hubs in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

Satellites could be developed at high-traffic locations such as Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest; Emmaus; Lehigh Valley International Airport; the area of Routes 22 and 512, and Route 33's Freemansburg Avenue interchange, site of the planned St. Luke's Hospital's expansion.

Eventually, Abrams envisions LANTA being involved with long-range plans for the restoration of passenger rail service between the region and Philadelphia and New York, not as a direct operator, but by running bus routes to area train stations. Development of ''light rail'' or trolley operations within the Lehigh Valley could be another part of the LANTA's future.

The proposed 12-year plan, for which Abrams was paid $250,000, was presented to the public at 3 and 7 p.m. Monday at the Lehigh County Government Center, Allentown, and similar public meetings are scheduled at the same times today at Bethlehem City Hall and Wednesday at the United Church of Christ, 27 N. Third St., Easton.

At Monday's afternoon in Allentown, only five people attended in addition to officials from LANTA or Abrams. But the few who spoke were generally positive, and sometimes enthusiastic.

''I'm quite pleased with the bus system here,'' said Robert Clarke, an Allentown retiree who no longer drives a car, relying on LANTA for basic transportation. The future plans would only improve services, he said, liking in particular Abrams' proposal to improve service to inter-city bus terminals such as Bieber and Trans-Bridge.

Frequent customer David Lahr of Allentown also looked forward to many of the proposed improvements.

Future service demands, the state and federal funding picture and other variables will help determine how much of the plan gets implemented.

The LANTA board wants to consider the public comments being gathered before formally adopting the recommendations, but the administration basically views them favorably, said Executive Director Armando Greco.

Poconos Rail Service Likely to Return

The Morning Call posted another article on rail service on the front page Monday June 9, 2009.

Poconos train to New York City is on track

EPA approval allows officials to enter funding phase for construction and engineering.


The two-decade effort to restore passenger rail service from the Poconos to New York City has received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, clearing a critical hurdle that now allows the $550 million project to be funded.

The EPA declared a ''finding of no significant impact'' for the project, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter announced Monday.

The decision allows officials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to enter the equally critical funding phase for construction and engineering of the rail line, which would connect Scranton and the Poconos to Hoboken, N.J., and New York City.

''I believe the project is so important it will be funded,'' Specter said Monday after a meeting with Lehigh Valley-area Democrats.

Specter, D-Pa., said the project has the support of several high-profile senators, including Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who wants to extend the rail line to Binghamton, N.Y.

New Jersey's Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez also back the rail line, Specter said.

New Jersey officials, facing the loss of billions in highway funding unless the state meets air quality improvements under the Clean Air Act, want to remove some of the 20,000 commuters who cross over daily from Pennsylvania and travel along the Interstate 80 corridor.

The train could also serve Monroe County's so-called Wall Street West project, a facility that would back up the nation's financial data in the event of a crisis.

''Wall Street wants to diversify, not have everything in southern Manhattan after their experience on 9/11, so we will get the funding,'' Specter said.

Federally approved rail projects can receive up to 50 percent of the cost under the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program, but competition for the federal dollars is fierce.

Lawrence Malski, chairman of the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Railroad Authority, said the project will be completed in phases to allow for lower funding requests. If that's successful, initial Pennsylvania service from Delaware Water Gap could be up and running in four years.

''We've now cleared the way to get the funding to start construction,'' Malski said.

Once completed, the service would be operated by New Jersey Transit, with service from four rail stations in Monroe County at Delaware Water Gap, East Stroudsburg, Analomink and Mount Pocono, and one in Scranton.

The Mount Pocono station could serve gamblers from New York and New Jersey wishing to visit Mount Airy Casino Resort, which is nearby.

A portion of the rail line would run through Northampton County near Portland. There also would be two new rail stations in New Jersey, in Andover and Blairstown, with the Andover station serving as a connector to direct service into New York's Penn Station.

Construction is already under way on seven miles of track connecting Andover to Port Morris, N.J., Malski said.

Largest Cities Without Rail Service

I've complied a list of the largest cities in the United States that lack medium or long-distance passenger rail service based on their size. I used the Amtrak network map and the Census estimates from 2008 to do this.

Name	Metro Size	Metro Rank
Phoenix, Arizona	4,281,899	12nd
Las Vegas, Nevada	1,865,746	30th
Columbus, Ohio	1,773,120	32nd
Nashville, Tennessee	1,550,733	38th
Louisville, Kentucky	1,244,696	42nd
Tulsa, Oklahoma	916,079	53rd
Dayton, Ohio	836,544	61st
Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania	808,210	62nd
Baton Rogue, Louisiana	770,037	67th
Knoxville, Tennessee	681,525	75th

As you can see, the Lehigh Valley is the 8th biggest metropolitan area without passenger rail service.

Gauging support for the return of rail

The Morning Call ran another front page article on rail this Saturday morning. This article is the first one on public opinion and the findings are interesting.

Gauging support for the return of rail

There hasn't been rail service to NYC for 50 years. If service returns, locals would ride and back it

By Josh Drobnyk | OF THE MORNING CALL | May 30, 2009

Lehigh Valley residents remain less than thrilled about the quality of transportation in the region, while a significant number say they'd be willing to pay higher taxes to bring rail service to the area, a Morning Call/

Muhlenberg College poll shows.

Returning rail to the Valley has been a hot topic for years among transportation planners, who have debated whether a critical mass of residents would take advantage of the service.

Nearly a third of poll respondents said they would use passenger rail about once a month or more if service were established between the Valley and New York City. Just 3 percent said they would use it multiple times each week. Still, even that small number translates into nearly 15,000 adults from Lehigh and Northampton counties.

Overall, only 5 percent of residents rate transportation in the Lehigh Valley as excellent, a number that has remained consistent in the seven-year history of the poll. Forty-five percent rate it as good, while four in 10 say it is not so good or poor.

Asked whether they would be willing to pay higher sales taxes to bring a rail line to the region to connect to New York City, 43 percent said yes, while 47 percent said no. A similar percentage said they would be willing to pay a higher gasoline tax if the money were used to establish more rail transportation across the United States.

''To even have public opinion mixed on the matter of raising taxes is a pretty good indicator that there is some strong support in the Valley to have rail service come back here,'' said Muhlenberg College pollster Christopher Borick, who directed the survey. ''Usually when you ask any tax question, it is not very close.''

Muhlenberg College surveyed 403 residents of Lehigh and Northampton counties between April 13 and May 18. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The Allentown college and The Morning Call are partners on a number of surveys each year.

Despite the mixed feelings about transportation in the Valley, nearly four in 10 residents say they are very satisfied with the amount of time it takes them to commute to work, while just 8 percent say they are somewhat or very dissatisfied. More than a quarter said they weren't sure.

Rail service between the Lehigh Valley and New York City ended nearly 50 years ago. One poll respondent, 92-year-old Ralph Weiner, said he recalled occasionally making the trip with his wife for a night out at the theater.

The Allentown native spent much of his career driving 90 minutes to and from Philadelphia, where he worked as a test administrator for the federal government. He said he'd pay more in sales taxes to see train service restored. He said he doesn't drive much anymore, but would hop on a train to the big city perhaps once a month.

''When you have rail traffic to a major city, you are not going to use your car by any means,'' he said, ''which in turn will decrease the flow of traffic.''

Planners and rail enthusiasts have been discussing the idea of trying to restore the service for years. Valley leaders have commissioned a $250,000 study that should be completed around the end of this year. Among the questions to be answered is what the rail ridership could be.

The Morning Call survey provided a glimpse.

The bulk -- 32 percent -- of respondents said they would use passenger rail service a few times a year if it were established between the Valley and New York City. Fourteen percent said they'd use it once a month; 9 percent a few times a month; 4 percent about once a week; and 3 percent multiple times a week. One in five said they would use it less than once a year.

Rates of potential ridership were greater among younger residents and minorities, according to survey responses. One in eight nonwhites and 18- to 34-year-olds said they'd use the service multiple times per week.

Paul Marin, chairman of the passenger rail panel of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., cautioned against reading much into the survey findings. He said it's difficult to get an accurate read on who and how often people would use the train when they don't know where exactly it would stop or how much it would cost to ride. He likened it to asking people how much they would use the freeway before interstate highways were built beginning in the mid-1950s.

''My contention is that we are simply at a point -- at the front end -- of a massive program of rail for the country,'' he said, noting President Barack Obama's plan to spend $13 billion-plus on high-speed rail in the next five years.