Harrisburg to Philadelphia commute amtrak (Darby: taxes, wealthy, budget)

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

You know, considering that the new 7th District goes all the way into Lancaster now, maybe once we bounce Meehan and put in somebody who isn't an arrogant moron, we can get some attention towards upgrading the rail between Philadelphia and Lancaster/Harrisburg.

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by pman

as others have mentioned, it's pretty reliable. there are essentially two trains that meet most normal commuting schedules (if you're employment times are flexible, you're in luck, the 8 am train out of harrisburg is an express). Anyway, a couple of thoughts. first, Amtrak recently added wifi to this line. In my experience it's good for reading the newspaper on your smart phone or laptop and checking your email. Service is pretty reliable on the run. Second, consider signing up for amtrak's credit card which will help you accumulate points faster and get to select status (which has its benefits). the points can be used for travel to places like ny, harriburg, boston, etc or can even be exchanged for discounts at places like macy's. select plus (which would be attainable I think) gets you access to the first class/acela lounges.
it's my hope they eventually launch a real express at rush hour (harrisburg, lancaster, philly) and get the trip under 90 min.
eta: while you can get to 8th and market for free (actually 11th) you may find it desirable to buy tokens and use the el..it's much faster and more reliable (and runs far more often). not to mention the regional rail goes to 10th while the el goes to 8th.

so market-frankford line is better than the rgional rail service?

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by couldntthinkofaclevername

You know, considering that the new 7th District goes all the way into Lancaster now, maybe once we bounce Meehan and put in somebody who isn't an arrogant moron, we can get some attention towards upgrading the rail between Philadelphia and Lancaster/Harrisburg.

oddly enough I would've always assumed fat cat pols in harrisburg would've wanted upgrade rail between philly to hbg since hbg is the capital but philly is the money center of pa.

but from a ridership perspective, I'm not sure enough people ride hbg-philly to make it run acela.

It is unfortunate, I really like high speed rail, train, subways that are quick, clean and efficient but the dynamics of the US makes these systems very cost prohibitive if you want to be budget neutral.

[kidphilly]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

so market-frankford line is better than the rgional rail service?

As long as you are close to rush hours Regional rail would be nearly as effecient. All trains stop at ME, Suburban, and 30th on the regional rail lines, would imagine no longer than 5 minutes either way at this time, probably less because you just get on the next train heading the right direction

[sj08054]

Those train comes about every 5 minutes during moring and afternoon commute. It's a quick ride and most of the time, the conductor doesn't even get a chance to check tickets. There are lots of folks who sneak on their for a quick hop without paying.

[pman]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

so market-frankford line is better than the rgional rail service?

yes. it's five minutes to suburban on a regional rail train plus there's a crew change at suburban, it's 90 seconds on the el to 15th st , and another three minutes to market east. so the el would probably be a two to three minute ride while regional rail would be 10 minutes plus an extra two blocks of walking. the trains do not come every five minutes and are more prone to delays... el trains, otoh, come every four minutes. for casual riding it's a great connection to use but for commuting you probably will want the faster more reliable connection.
if you were going to suburban the time penalty on the train might be less making it worth it.
I'd also point out that PennDOT is closing the last few grade crossings on the line and was awarded ARRA money to redo state interlocking in Harrisburg. beyond that there are plans but nothing has moved forward afaik. they are building new stations at mt joy, coatesville, downingtown, and middletown. they are renovating lancaster and just completed etown. there's no reason acela equipment couldn't run on the harrisburg line (though probably without the first class lounge and cafe car). indeed, when it comes time to replace the current equipment some kind of tiling equipment would make sense. probably the biggest key that might happen is to fix the track in philadelphia...it's by far the slowest section and impacts both amtrak and septa commuters

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by pman

yes. it's five minutes to suburban on a regional rail train, it's 90 seconds on the el to 15th st plus there's a crew change at suburban, and another three minutes to market east. so the el would probably be a two to three minute ride while regional rail would be 10 minutes plus an extra two blocks of walking. the trains do not come every five minutes and are more prone to delays... el trains, otoh, come every four minutes. for casual riding it's a great connection to use but for commuting you probably will want the faster more reliable connection.
if you were going to suburban the time penalty on the train might be less making it worth it.

thanks for the insight.

I think Septa is the weirdest system to read through on the map. Certainly much more confusing than the mta, wmata, or bart.

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

Originally Posted by mufc1878

oddly enough I would've always assumed fat cat pols in harrisburg would've wanted upgrade rail between philly to hbg since hbg is the capital but philly is the money center of pa.

but from a ridership perspective, I'm not sure enough people ride hbg-philly to make it run acela.

It is unfortunate, I really like high speed rail, train, subways that are quick, clean and efficient but the dynamics of the US makes these systems very cost prohibitive if you want to be budget neutral.

Harrisburg only cares about the "T" area... and of course the wealthiest people in the state, who never have their school district budgets cut. The fact that they refuse to tax the natural gas companies or make them pay to drill doesn't help matters either. That's why the "budget shortfalls" exist, no matter what spin they may try to use.

What they need to do is get a private company to upgrade the rails, either by paying them to do it or simply by selling the rights to that company and renting use of the rails from them. It's clear they're not about to do it themselves. Really, the whole system across the state needs to be looked at.

[pman]

Originally Posted by couldntthinkofaclevername

Harrisburg only cares about the "T" area... and of course the wealthiest people in the state, who never have their school district budgets cut. The fact that they refuse to tax the natural gas companies or make them pay to drill doesn't help matters either. That's why the "budget shortfalls" exist, no matter what spin they may try to use.

What they need to do is get a private company to upgrade the rails, either by paying them to do it or simply by selling the rights to that company and renting use of the rails from them. It's clear they're not about to do it themselves. Really, the whole system across the state needs to be looked at.

they cut everyone's budget but the wealthy district's rely less on state aid. I'd also point out that Harrisburg is mostly dysfunctional though not quite DC dysfunctional. while harrisburg has done too little to improve the state's rail system, they have done more than many. the train ride to lancaster and harrisburg could be better but it's not much longer time-wise than chicago-milwaukee despite being much longer mileage wise.

[couldntthinkofaclevername]

Originally Posted by pman

they cut everyone's budget but the wealthy district's rely less on state aid. I'd also point out that Harrisburg is mostly dysfunctional though not quite DC dysfunctional. while harrisburg has done too little to improve the state's rail system, they have done more than many. the train ride to lancaster and harrisburg could be better but it's not much longer time-wise than chicago-milwaukee despite being much longer mileage wise.

No, they cut the needy districts. If the wealthy districts got cut at all, it was barely.

Districts like Upper Darby have some of the highest taxes in the state and they got their budgets slashed significantly.