Quote:
Originally Posted by hammersklavier
Ultimately, being bureaucratic in nature, infrastructure planning probably lags public perception by some time. But I wouldn't be too surprised if the percolating increase in rail investment that's been happening nationwide reaches our neck of the woods sooner or later.
The State College CSA actually has a little over 230k people living in it. It's also got Penn State which would have an inherent ridership draw. You're underestimating it.
Also interesting that the first city you thought of wasn't Reading or Scranton or the Lehigh Valley, no?
That's always in their budget report. They're rail-trailed the ROW they owned from Shelly to the Lehigh Country border, though, and from there on to Bethlehem's been rail-trailed as well.
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I'm not exactly sure I understand your question but I assume you mean why I do not question the viability of rail to Reading, Scranton, or the Lehigh Valley.
A few things I considered
1.) Whatever is built will be a ton of money. Subsequently the routes will likely need to sustain a half decent amount of service. 2-4 trains a day isn't going to cut it on a multi-billion dollar investment.
2.) Not that I don't think State College can support service, but where does it go? Does it go to Harrisburg then Philly, does it go to Pittsburgh, does it go south to connect to the HBG-PIT line? And in the western part of the state you have to deal with a terrain that is not very conducive to faster passenger rail. Passenger rail needs to either more convenient or faster than driving.
3a.) Lehigh County already faces a bit of pull towards NYC, despite not being all that far from Philly. Whenever the NE Extension construction is complete it should help things, but drivers/busses face the inevitable congestion on I76 or the Blue Route. Making a semi-regular commute to center city just about unbearable.
3b.) Reading is much of the same with the addition of possible 422 traffic.
3c.) Rail infrastructure already exists from Philly to Reading and at least part of the way to Lehigh Valley. It's a matter of adding a dedicated track along the NS main to Reading so there is minimal if any sharing of track. Allentown will be a bit tougher, but not impossible.
4.) I question the viability of Scranton. Again, rugged terrain and NJT may get there someday. I don't think Scranton needs rail connections to both NYC and Philly.