Riders on inaugural run note
comfort, not just high speed

HARRISBURG---Riders on the inaugural trip last week of Amtrak’s new 110-mph Harrisburg-Philadelphia-New York Keystone Service noticed something missing: the bumps in the track that used to be there.

Harrisburg Patriot-News reporter Frank Cozzoli caught the mood of the trip: “It’s not like jumping in a fast car, hitting the gas pedal and holding it at 110 mph until you’re in downtown Philadelphia. Railroads, like highways, have reduced-speed zones. But Amtrak trains did hit 110 mph at times yesterday as high-speed rail made its debut in the 104-mile Keystone Corridor.”

But Cozzoli also noted the riders pleasant surprise at what wasn’t there: bumpy track that used to be speeds well below 110 mph:

“It was pleasant,” Anthony Merritt of Lancaster told Cozzoli as he arrived in Harrisburg yesterday morning. “The comfort and the speed, it was a good combination.” Larry Joyce of Summerdale, who’s been riding trains since he was 4, agreed. “ You can feel the difference,” Joyce said to the Patriot-News: “This was really a bumpy section coming out of Middletown to Elizabethtown.”

Amtrak and the state of Pennsylvania combined to completely rehabilitate the 104-mile line between Harrisburg and Philadelphia --- one of Pennsylvania’s busiest travel corridors --- in a project that took only a few years to negotiate, plan, fund, and build, at a cost of $145 million, once serious political muscle – Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who joined in with long-time rail advocate State Rep. Rick Geist (R-Altoona) --- got behind the project. Before Rendell stepped in, the line had been quietly deteriorating for more than half a century, even to the point that diesels had to be used on the ostensibly electrified line. That problem has now been fixed.

By replacing ancient jointed rail with CWR, or Continuously Welded Rail, the line now offers service that is not only much faster, but far more comfortable. Because of parsimonious Federal capital funding over the past 35 years, Amtrak has been largely unable to rehabilitate its century-old infrastructure on the Northeast Corridor, which it owns from Washington, DC to New York City and then from New Haven to Massachusetts, with operating control over the last segment of the line into Boston. The New York-New Haven stretch is owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and is the worst segment on the corridor, largely responsible for all-too-frequent delays to Amtrak’s high speed Boston-New York service.

Amtrak’s work Harrisburg-Philadelphia follows a pattern being experienced all over America, as state officials step in to fill the funding gaps caused by lack of Federal funding, and invest in new commuter/intercity rail lines. While riders expect the quicker trip times --- Harrisburg-Philadelphia expresses are now 90 minutes instead of two hours, for example, and 10 out of 14 trains continue on to New York City --- what surprises them is the comfort level of the new service, when track has been upgraded as it was on that line.

The new Keystone Service encompasses a number of infrastructure improvements that will result in increased top speeds — from a previous top speed of 90 mph to a maximum of 110 mph, the fastest outside the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak reported.

In order to accommodate the higher speeds and faster travel times, signal and electrification systems, including more than two dozen signal instrument houses, were upgraded for the first time in 70 years. New fiber optic cable will provide reliable communications and greater signal control, and electrification has been restored over the entire route.

Amtrak also installed approximately 120 miles of continuous-welded rail which provides for a much smoother ride. Other infrastructure improvements include the installation of 185,000 concrete ties, nearly 80,000 wooden ties, and 53 new switches. A new freight bypass will improve safety and reliability. Bridge structures and culverts have been replaced and drainage improved.

Also improving travel times are ten cab-control cars that have been newly-rebuilt in the Amtrak shops. These cars allow engineers to operate the train from either end, eliminating the need to turn the train around thus saving time and allowing trains and train crews to complete more trips.

Popularity of the Keystone Corridor

The Keystone Corridor is one of Amtrak’s most popular with 823,097 Amtrak passengers traveling the route in FY2006, a 13% increase from 730,360 in FY2005. In addition, Philadelphia rose to second place on Amtrak’s list of the Top 50 Stations in 2005, bypassing Washington, D.C. In 2005, Philadelphia’s 30^th Street Station served more than 3.74 million passengers up from 3.69 million passengers in 2004. During the same period, the station in Harrisburg rose from 28^th to 27^th place on the top 50 list serving 340,000 passengers in 2005, up from 317,000 in 2004.

About PennDOT

PennDOT manages the state highway and bridge network, encompassing nearly 40,000 miles of highway and 25,000 bridges, and oversees the distribution of grants for passenger and rail freight, public transit and aviation.

About Amtrak

SIOUX CITY, IA--- A “mystery” manufacturer is looking to locate a giant manufacturing facility in Iowa, reports the Sioux City Journal in a story by staff writer Michele Linck, and other states are also on the list.

The site involves at least 1,500 acres along the Missouri River between Elk Point and Burbank, S.D., according to property owners who have been approached by company agents wanting to buy options on their farmland in that area, reports the Journal

Dawn Glover, executive director of the Elk Point Economic Development Board, said the company’s requirements include proximity to the river and an interstate highway. She said she has signed a confidentiality statement and could not give any more information than that. Property owners also mention that proximity to a railroad line is also key and note that a Burlington Northern Santa Fe line runs nearby, the Journal reports.

“The Union County site is just one of ‘several sites under review in the Midwest in various states,’ according to a statement released by Iowa Gov. Mike Rounds’ spokesman, Mark Johnston, reports the Journal. “The governor’s office feels that we have a good chance of being the state of choice. There is much hard work yet to be done.”

RENSSELAER -- Food service is planned on the new express train between the Capital Region and New York City, according to an official at the state Senate High-Speed Rail Task Force, reports Albany Times-Union deputy business editor Eric Anderson.

The Albany-New York City run was plagued with worker-management unrest and poor food service management for several years before Amtrak cut back the service in 2005. At the time Amtrak claimed to be losing $1 million annually on the food service alone.

The Times-Union reports that the task force “…wants to start operating the express train as soon as possible, according to Carla Chiaro, its administrative director. While it likely won’t begin operating this week, she said Monday that talks with Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation were progressing. Amtrak officials have equipment and crews that could provide the service, and food likely would be provided from the railroad’s commissary in New York City, the paper said.

The train already appears on Amtrak’s fall schedule, with a footnote that explains the start date hasn’t been set. It’s the first in a series of steps that would put in place new equipment, faster schedules and other improvements to passenger rail service upstate, reported the Times-Union.

Slugging it out in the fight for rail

Congratulations to Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and State Rep. Rick Geist, as well as Amtrak, for persevering in their years-long efforts to improve passenger and intercity rail in Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/New York region. The “new” Keystone service --- or rather, the revived Keystone line --- covers the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg, Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York with fast service that was once the hallmark of the Pennsylvania Railroad, but was allowed to become decrepit after decades of Federal neglect.

Let’s hope that the Governors on the eastern side of New York, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts —whoever is elected November 8 --- notice the competitive advantage just carved out by Pennsylvania and New Jersey and follow suit by getting the New York- New Haven-Hartford-Springfield line into competitive shape and equipped with modern equipment, as well as extending fully electrified (it’s already in place) ShoreLine East service to Providence. The economic health of the region is dependent upon it, because we just can not pave our way out of the traffic congestion we have.

But in the meantime, hats off to Pennsylvania’s Ed Rendell and Rick Geist, and the Amtrak team that made it happen, in the Keystone State. n