New Kensington - Pittsburgh Rail Line (Penn Hills, Plum: crime, home, to live in)

[aveojohn]

It will only be viable if you have enough passengers, or it will have to be heavily subsidized. It will only work if it is convenient for people to use.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

I thought they were completely re-doing Route 28?

Yea, and it will take about ten years.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

Rail line from New Kensington to Pittsburgh being studied

^ This confuses me a little. Why New Kensington? Are there that many people commuting to the city from New Ken? Are there gonna be stops along the way to accommodate other suburbs on the line?

Heres another artical--http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_614517.html

[Awesomo.2000]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

Rail line from New Kensington to Pittsburgh being studied

^ This confuses me a little. Why New Kensington? Are there that many people commuting to the city from New Ken? Are there gonna be stops along the way to accommodate other suburbs on the line?

Because all of Pittsburgh's oldest and struggling towns outside the city are in the Allegheny and Mon Valley. Maybe because New Kensington is really a beautiful town, walkable, unique, and actually has a downtown, not a bunch of stripmalls going down route 22 with no actual downtown. There is still a large population that live in these towns and use public transportation to get to Pittsburgh, and this would be a great way to bring towns like New Ken, Verona, and Terentum back on their feet.

Every other city in the East and West coast utilize public transportation like this, and push TOD (train oriented Development) along track lines for offices, retail (in real downtown districts), apartments and condos, etc. What a great way to live in a town outside a city, and being able to travel into the city within minutes. However, I noticed Pittsburgher's never want to push things to make this a better metro. God forbid if we could have vibrant towns along the Allegheny river again. God forbid if we could actually see a vision of having Train oriented suburbs like Philly, Boston, N.Y. Baltimore, and other smaller cities have. We got to keep fixing 28, expand our highways, and keep building subdivisions and cheaply built malls with enormous parking lots and targets!

[lifepgh2op]

Awesomo, agreed! Nice post. I also didn't realize the lines were already in place...I think it will be great and hopefully fuel more rail development around the metro.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

Because all of Pittsburgh's oldest and struggling towns outside the city are in the Allegheny and Mon Valley. Maybe because New Kensington is really a beautiful town, walkable, unique, and actually has a downtown, not a bunch of stripmalls going down route 22 with no actual downtown. There is still a large population that live in these towns and use public transportation to get to Pittsburgh, and this would be a great way to bring towns like New Ken, Verona, and Terentum back on their feet.

Every other city in the East and West coast utilize public transportation like this, and push TOD (train oriented Development) along track lines for offices, retail (in real downtown districts), apartments and condos, etc. What a great way to live in a town outside a city, and being able to travel into the city within minutes. However, I noticed Pittsburgher's never want to push things to make this a better metro. God forbid if we could have vibrant towns along the Allegheny river again. God forbid if we could actually see a vision of having Train oriented suburbs like Philly, Boston, N.Y. Baltimore, and other smaller cities have. We got to keep fixing 28, expand our highways, and keep building subdivisions and cheaply built malls with enormous parking lots and targets!

I'm not sure how this will spur development of these towns, at $16 a head, even if it's heavily subsidized it won't last long.

[john7104]

Originally Posted by mattjd

Who knows. We're throwing money around like it's nothing, so why shouldn't New Kensington get a rail line? With the low, low cost of just $16 per person I'm sure it will get a huge amount of riders. ugh.

You're one of the few on here with common sense. You get it but the others won't.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by mattjd

Who knows. We're throwing money around like it's nothing, so why shouldn't New Kensington get a rail line? With the low, low cost of just $16 per person I'm sure it will get a huge amount of riders. ugh.

It will have to be heavily subsidized. and even with that, if it's not convenient, people won't use it. If they do this on the cheap it will never fly.

[PeterRabbit]

It would serve a lot more towns if it was on the Rt. 28 side of the river. I think Oakmont would want no parts of this.

[Awesomo.2000]

Originally Posted by john7104

You're one of the few on here with common sense. You get it but the others won't.

This is the pittsburgh mentallity as mentioned above. Why this region will never be as successful as others. I can't wait to get to N.Y. next year. I am starting to turn Pro-Pittsburgh into one of those pessimist Pittsburghers already. 8 more months of my lease.