For more years than I can remember, electric locomotives were changed out in Harrisburg rather than 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and time was saved, and it is awkward to couple on to the rear end of a train and drag it to New York. It makes sense to me to build a new smaller station near Zoo Tower for east and westbound trains and have shuttle service from the Pittsburgh tunnel track to 30th Street, either by bus or train.
I realize that North Philadelphia (the previous stop) is in such disrepair and located in a ghetto as to render it useless. Maybe it’s time to tear down North Philadelphia and use some of that capital for a smaller stop that will bypass 30th Street and therefore save some time.
The amount of through traffic between NY and the west is insignificant compared to years gone by. It’s really not worth the expense of redoing the NY and Pittsburgh Subway (I think that was the name of the WB connection at Zoo Tower) or an equivalent for the remaining traffic.
Harrisburg to Philadelphia is 105 miles, your question sounds like you think they’re across the street form one another. The Pennsy mainline from Philly to Harrisburg was electrified back in the thirties. This was in addition to the already-electrified Northeast Corridor. Electric operations, once the wire was hung, was much more economical in terms of fuel, faster in terms of acceleration, and held many other advantages over the steam locomotive. If you look at a route map, the line from Philly to Harrisburg is an east-west branch off the NE Corridor, which ran north and south from Boston To Washington DC. The train traffic was the heaviest (and is today) on the North South line. Although a new station at or near Zoo Tower may sound like a good idea from half a world away, the realities of real estate availability, cost to build a new station, and move operations from 30th Street, just aren’t in the budget for Amtrak, even if there was a logical reason to do it. Amtrak is having a hard enough time getting operation subsidies out of the Washington idiots let alone new station money.
Besides, 30th Street is a stop for all New York to Pittsburgh trains, so the power change is done there. The wires from Philly to Harrisburg have been down for some time, I believe it was during the Conrail era.
Tom…You say “the wires from Philly to Harisburg have been down for some time”…Are you saying they are simply removed from the site…I was under the impression they were probably just de-energized. Didn’t realize they were dismantled.
No, they are up and live.
Adrianspeeder
…Adrian…What trains use them…?
SEPTA uses the catenary, mostly for MU Silverliners, on its busy Paoli line at least as far west as Elizabethtown, which is well toward Harrisurg. SEPTA runs the occasional special into Harrisburg, and they may even dead head some equipment out there for the in-bound morning runs.
Larry
…Thanks Larry…
I’ve actually seen AEM-7’s on Keystone Service trains in Harrisburg in 2003.
I have seen AEM7s and once when I was little, an E60.
Adrianspeeder
…Let me put it back into history…When I last rode east from Harrisburg it was behind GG-1’s…{Don’t know how many}…and when we left Harrisburg those brutes really pushed one back into the seat…and moved out…until the catenary posts were flying by…
The catenary is all still in place and is being rebuilt in part with Sate of PA funds. Full electric operation is to be restored for Keystone trains (Harrisburg-Philly), which then will run through to downtown Philly using the upper level of 30th Street and the tunnel used by suburban trains, probably terminating at Market East (10th Street) station. Changing engines for the few through trains at 30th Street makes sense because these are not push-pull and require a reversal at 30th Street anyway. Once electric service is restored, you can probably expect one through Harrsiburg NY train each way that will bypass 30th Street and use North Philadelphia for the few Philly passengers that use it. As far as I know the “New York - Pittsburgh Subway” at Zoo is still usable.
North Phila Station is not that bad. It is actually in a “OK” area believe it or not. Still I would not go there at night it is in a relatively descent area. as for the station it is in moderate condition and has very large and newer highlevel platforms and inclosed waiting areas but dosent have a railroad employee stationed there.