Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Maybe it's a national priority to tunnel through the Alleghenies, but if you're building Chicago-NY, why on earth would you not use the Water Level Route through Upstate NY? Would the added ridership really be worth the expense? Especially if you're trying to reinvigorate the Rust Belt, I think Upstate NY is a better goal than revitalized Pittsburgh and Philly.
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I hate the thought of bypassing the economic powerhouse of Philly and the emerging ecconomic center that is Pittsburgh, but the geography is rather prohibitive unfortunately...
What would a new route through this no man's land cost, upwards of $20 billion, considering the new R.O.W. and 6 (ballpark) tunnels?
I would suggest improvements to the Pittsburgh-Harrisburb corridor, at least to allow for high-ER speed trains to reduce the 5.5 hour trip by a little anyway. Granted, there are a few cities in between that I think would be minimally impacted if they lost Amtrak completely, but Pittsburgh would take a dagger to the heart. PGH handles roughly 130k pax a year. I know it's no big deal, but that's mostly the origin-destination travelers boarding/deboarding the Pennsylvanian, which could be eliminated all together. I think only a dozen or so people board the Capitol Limited since both trains stop in the middle of the night...