Because of chronic budget deficits, SEPTA has been shrinking since 1980. Now, with soaring oil prices generating new interest in public transportation, our state has the chance to move ahead with building new rail lines and improving speed and service on existing rail lines. The Philadelphia and Pittsburgh suburbs need more transit, and cities like Allentown, Scranton, and Reading, which used to have passenger rail service, need to be reconnected.
NEW JERSEY
Hoboken
NEW YORK
To Reading
To Allento
Montgomery County
Scranton
wn
Eastern Pennsylvania/Philadelphia Quakertown Doylestown
Willow Grove
PENNSYLVANIA Quakertown Norristown
PHILADELPHIA
Newtown
Trenton
Wawa
Scranton to Hoboken, NJ
This new route, running on existing track, would facilitate travel between Scranton and Hoboken, NJ by connecting northeastern Pennsylvania to the transit system of New Jersey. The new service would run 18 train trips per day, carrying up to 6,700 passenger trips each weekday, and diverting 2,700 car trips from the road. Lehigh Valley to Philadelphia
The Lehigh Valley saw its last SEPTA train depart in 1979 as service was phased out. Restoring service as far as Quakertown, 13 miles south of Allentown, would vastly extend SEPTA’s reach and greatly reduce congestion in the Lehigh Valley. Schuylkill Valley Metro
The Schuylkill Valley Metro, which connected Reading to Philadelphia until 1981, has received renewed interest lately for passenger service. Once built, the line would carry an estimated 42,000 to 68,000 passenger trips each weekday, of which 47 percent would be new to transit. Roosevelt Blvd. Metro
A new rail line would share the Broad Street subway line’s express tracks from Center City, eventually branching off to the Northeast in a bored tunnel under Roosevelt Boulevard. The line would mostly stay below ground until passing Blue Grass Road, after which it would be raised above street level on an elevated platform. Because the area is well-suited to such a transit improvement, ridership would be expected to rival Philadelphia’s other major subway lines at 124,500 daily boardings, replacing 83,300 daily car trips and saving 12,900 hours of wasted time each day from reduced
To Th o
To New York via NJ Transit
rndale
Norristown Allentown
Bucks County
n, NJ To Trento wn wto e N To
Fox Chase
Bryn Mawr Ardmore
PHILADELPHIA
Camden
Elwynn
To Wawa Delaware County
NEW JERSEY To South Jersey
*pre-existing lines are shown in gray
congestion and faster travel. The congestion benefits would extend beyond Roosevelt Boulevard itself onto I-95 and other nearby roads. Cross County Metro
This new line would connect Thorndale to Trenton via a SEPTA line that would traverse Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks counties north of downtown Philadelphia. Currently, all of SEPTA’s major transit lines feed into downtown Philadelphia; the Cross County Metro would connect many of the northern lines together, making it possible to move between outlying areas more quickly. Expanding PATCO
The Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) is considering expanding its South Jersey to downtown Philadelphia service to include a line running along the Delaware River on the city’s waterfront. Ridership for the first phase of the project was estimated at 7,900 daily trips, at a cost of approximately $1 billion. Stops along the waterfront would greatly enhance the ability to visit waterfront attractions and employments using public transit, since the only existing service to those areas is slower bus routes. Extending the Fox Chase Line to Newtown
This would restore rail service from Fox Chase to Newtown, connecting that city to downtown Philadelphia and the rest of the SEPTA network. Extending the Elwyn line to Sylmar
This line would pass through several towns including Wawa, Chadds Ford, and Oxford, allowing them easy access to Philadelphia and the entire SEPTA network.
Building better, faster public transportation is key to Pennsylvania’s future.
Western Pennsylvania/Pittsburgh Wood Street Station Penn Station Cultural District
Gateway Center Station
Central Business District
Arnold
Steel Plaza Station
New Kensington
Oakmont Verona High-Speed Rail to Harrisburg/Philadelphia
PITTSBURGH
Pittsburgh
Oakland
Wilkinsburg
Latrobe
Pittsburgh-Philadelphia High-Speed Rail
The recently completed high-speed line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg increased top train speeds to 110, cutting half an hour off express routes between the two cities. Modernizing the route all the way to Pittsburgh would be even more useful, since passengers could travel across the state in high-speed trains.
Allegheny Valley Line
This new line would follow the southern shore of the Allegheny River over 18 miles, either from 11th Street or the Strip District in Pittsburgh, to Lawrenceville, Verona, Oakmont, New Kensington, and finally to Arnold. One option of this plan would be to include a secondary spur to Oakland, another important center of employment.
Editor: James Browning. Contributors: Jim Amspacher, Justin Boyles, Zach Cullimore, Matthew Curtis, Richard J. Hannigan, Sara Landis, Ethan Lavine, Jesse Littlewood, Leana Nordstrom, Jenna Perry Leschuk, Ryan Moeckly, Brittany Paris, Dan Platt, Nathan Proctor, Heather Shute, Drew Stephan, Jenne Turner. Publications Director: Richard J. Hannigan. Design: Public Interest GRFX (215) 985-1113
The Spine Line
The Spine Line Light Rail would involve creating a new light rail line that would connect downtown Pittsburgh with Oakland and continue on to either Wilkinsburg or Homestead. The system would reduce travel time to Oakland between 29 and 45 percent, depending on the alternative chosen, and provide a direct link between the city’s biggest centers of employment, education and culture. Pittisburgh to Latrobe
The Norfolk Southern Commuter Rail would start at the Amtrak Station in downtown Pittsburgh and end 31 miles away in Latrobe of Westmoreland County, after passing through the busy Route 30 corridor. Travel from Greensburg to downtown Pittsburgh would take only 49 minutes, saving 15 minutes relative to a car and over half an hour compared with the 1F bus route.
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