Here is a link to an article discussing a proposal to institute Commuter Train service in Central-Western Pa. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_296192.html It would be interesting to see if such a service would be worthwhile…Are there that many people who’d use the service? Although the proposed route would make several stops, so commuters could jump on and off at stops within the range of the run. It would not be a straight through Pittsburgh to Altoona run. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
Johnstown would appear to be the outer edge of a suburban route out of Pittsburgh (a little help from the locals, please). Anything much longer is becoming an intercity run similar to the Chicago-Peoria, Chicago-Dubuque, Chicago-Decatur and other runs that were sponsored by the State of Illinois and operated by Amtrak in the past.
Johnstown is about 90 minutes to 2 hours from Pittsburgh by rail at least. Altoona is another 40 miles east of Johnstown, on some challenging grades with accompanying speed restrictions… Since there are multiple stops in the plan, commuters might use it to get to intermediate stops, such as Altoona to Johnstown, or Greensburg, etc…It would be a pretty long round trip commute daily for someone commuting from each end of the run…The next question would be, how would NS receive this? This would have to coincide with their freight movements, and this is one busy stretch of railroad.,.especially in the Johnstown-Altoona area. Helpers cutting on and off, slow Coal-drags and general manifests grinding upgrade taking up track space…There are alot of things to consider…NS stopped allowing Altoona Railfest excursions around Horseshoe Curve this past year, simply because it caused too much hassle to coordinate them with the Freight movements. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
…One seems to hear of such actions of NS often…But hope somehow the idea can become reality. Always nice to see passenger trains on the route. With 3 tracks and modern DS process one would think they could find the capacity to do something like this. Bring it on…
Gee, maybe they should put a fourth track around the curve…[}:)]
The article talks of a Greensburg-Pittburgh-run too. Trip-time 50’ would not be uncommon for a commuter-run.
Is the DMU really new to the US? AFAIK, the RDC’s could run im MU.
The PRR ran Greensburg - Pittsburgh commuter trains until around 1952, if I am not mistaken. Power was usually G-5 4-6-0’s.
Yeah, and they got an extra tunnel they’re not using at Gallitzin.
It sounds like a great idea but how about having a commuter service between PHILADELPHIA and READING, PA…Only about 1/2 the state’s poulation lives near this area lacking much commuter service.
Certainly nobody can think this thing has a chance of happening beyond having some politican’s get some free publicity.
Why would they need rail when they’ve already dumped big bucks on a Maglev study?
Dale
That is my favorite drive out to Pittsburgh. Very nice country and a fun drive.
Adrianspeeder
That red DMU actually went around Horseshoe Curve earlier in 2004 coupled to an Amtrak engine I believe, on its publicity tour across the Country. I have my doubts as to this idea coming to fruition, at least the entire distance between Pittsburgh and Altoona…perhaps a smaller scale operation from Pittsburgh to Latrobe, or Greensburg, even if that far…Just too much more coordination with freight traffic. The line was 4 tracked around the turn of the 20th Century, primarily to separate passenger and freight movements…As passenger train frequency was well over 50 trains per day back then. Now, most of the line between Altoona and Pittsburgh is double or triple track, It will be interesting to see how far this proposal actually goes…they need to go to NS and get their reaction before spending too much time and money on studies and the like…Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
this has been talked about on and off for years… ill belive it when i see the trains start rolling in commuter service… untill then…its just talk agin
csx engineer
…With traffic crowding around cities and metropolian area highways I don’t understand why more and more operations such as this proposal aren’t used…Establish a large holding area…{parking}, and let commuters ride most of the way to work without the hassle every day of present day traffic. Provided the city has adequate bus transportation within the city to distribute the workers.
Nah. Too radical![(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][}:)]
I doubt it ever happens. Politics being what they are it will be studied to death. There has been talk ( just that) for commuter service between New Kensington (westmoreland Cty) and the “burgh” for a long time. It would releave the congestion on rt 28 ( Main roadway along the Allegheny River), the track is in place (Allegheny Valley RR) and the parking spaces are available but it has to be studied to death. I want to know what happened to America ! we use to go out and build it and make it work but now it seems we have lost that drive and determination. During WW2 things went from the drawing table to production in less than a month now you cannot do a thing without study after study after study etc,. The amount of money wasted on the New Kensington to Pgh commuter line I believe was 500,00 ( I may be wrong). That money could have gone for equipment lease or purchase. Thanks for allowing me to vent
The maglev project was supposed to run from downtown to the airport, which is west of the city.
I can’t imagine this ever happening. The volume of potential passengers can’t possibly be big enough.
Good point…If the PRR did all these studies, the line over the Alleghenies might have taken years more to complete. They left it to J. Edgar Thomson, chief engineer and later head of the RR, to draw up a plan to get the line across Pennsylania. He did, and in short order, the RR was built, and improved upon over the years to allow for more traffic. However, the fact that the line across Pennsylvania has not been radically altered to this day, is a testament to how well the line was devised in the first place, without study after study…Some research on the current proposal is warranted however, to look at the feasibility of commuter service on this route…would it attract sufficient ridership? How would it impact, and co-exist with Freight Traffic? Some research is needed, however, not study after study…Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
…It seems the thrust of our nation’s priorities have changed so much since our work ethic policies in the WWII era…Our concerns now seem to be outward and very litle done for advancement internally. One reads of projects all over Europe and Asia and Scandinavia {sp?}, that boggles the mind…stuff we wouldn’t think of doing for ourselves now…??? Modern stuff of all kinds of communications and transportation.
Another benefit of the past, especially in the 1800’s when the PRR line was built, was that much of the land away from cities was wilderness. The PRR had miles of open land from which to select a route. Try doing that now, with the population growth and towns and cities that have sprouted up since then. If a Railroad wanted to build a major route like this today, it would have to spend millions upon millions of dollars acquiring land and then have to go through red tape to build a route similar to the PRR. When these routes were built, thre was nothing much to hinder them aside from the terrain itself. Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown