New Kensington - Pittsburgh Rail Line (Penn Hills, Plum: prices, authority, train)

[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?

[Hopes]

Many people commute from New Kensington to Pittsburgh.

[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.

[Hopes]

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.

I hear you, but I'm going to be selfish since I drive Route 28 everyday. That road just can't handle the traffic.

Every other suburan area has an expressway, but not the northeast.

[lifepgh2op]

I thought they were completely re-doing Route 28?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

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?

As the article notes at the end, they have been studying the possibility of commuter rail along the Allegheny Valley for quite a while. Assuming this is similar to the other studies I have seen, they would in fact make stops along the way, and use park-and-ride lots to attract more customers.

[aveojohn]

The rail line they are talking about already exists and with park and rides, would be convenient for everyone in the area including those accross the river.It's not just about New Ken.The line also runs through Oakmont and Verona and would service a large section of Plum and Penn Hills.There was a commuter line that ran on these rails years ago, I remember my neighbor using it.

[Tinare]

Originally Posted by aveojohn

The rail line they are talking about already exists and with park and rides, would be convenient for everyone in the area including those accross the river.It's not just about New Ken.The line also runs through Oakmont and Verona and would service a large section of Plum and Penn Hills.There was a commuter line that ran on these rails years ago, I remember my neighbor using it.

Thank you. That was my question when I read the article. I wanted ti know whether this was an existing rail line that they were considering for commuter train use, or whether it was the full building of a line. Not a good article...

[Geeo]

I would be surprised if this ever saw the light of day. The Port Authority stopped running the train to the Mon Valley because of the high per passenger cost, and the P&LE stopped running to Beaver Falls for the same reason. Nothing has changed in the economics, so I don't see how this could be viable. Before cars and expressways, there were hundreds of daily commuter trains coming into Pittsburgh. I believe that until the Pennsylvania Railroad started going belly-up, there were still over 60 trains a day into the city in the early 1960s.

[BrianTH]

Nothing has changed in the economics, so I don't see how this could be viable.

Well, you've got increasing congestion problems, increasing real gasoline prices, and increasing environmental concerns, so there are in fact some relevant dynamics.