Amtrak to expand service from Pittsburgh to New York after deal between PennDOT, Norfolk Southern

[airwave09]

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

Do not hold your breathe waiting for hastened service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The topography is the barrier coupled with the frequency of freight usage. Amtrak will improve rails between Harrisburg and Philadelphia allowing for faster trains. There are only a few sections of the Acela line that reaches maximum speed. Amtrak is working on the Bos-Wash corridor as we speak.

Someone did a great comprehensive video on what it would take to improve the Pittsburgh-Harrisburg route, which included upgrades on the Philly-Harrisburg section as well. They found that upgrading the existing Pennsylvanian ROW from Pitt to HBG to would be too costly and not viable for HSR.

Essentially, the "cost doesn't matter version" with many tunnels and viaducts thought the Appalachians on a brand new ROW would cost $19.4 billion and we could have HSR train service at ~130mph for only 1.5 hours to Harrisburg and 2.5 Hours to Philly (+ 3.75 hours express train to NYC)!

The more "economical" version using the strict ROW of I-76 would be $11.7 billion which would give slightly longer travel times of 3.5 hours Pittsburgh to Philly (4.75 hours to NYC). Still not bad at all and a huge improvement over what we have now and would make it highly competitive vs driving and flying.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFq1zwuJq8o

[Copanut]

I'd take 3.5 hours to Philly via train vs plane.

[_Buster]

When do the electric trains and airplanes get going. and hopefully solar powered. China, c'mon man you can do this

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by airwave09

Someone did a great comprehensive video on what it would take to improve the Pittsburgh-Harrisburg route, which included upgrades on the Philly-Harrisburg section as well. They found that upgrading the existing Pennsylvanian ROW from Pitt to HBG to would be too costly and not viable for HSR.

Essentially, the "cost doesn't matter version" with many tunnels and viaducts thought the Appalachians on a brand new ROW would cost $19.4 billion and we could have HSR train service at ~130mph for only 1.5 hours to Harrisburg and 2.5 Hours to Philly (+ 3.75 hours express train to NYC)!

The more "economical" version using the strict ROW of I-76 would be $11.7 billion which would give slightly longer travel times of 3.5 hours Pittsburgh to Philly (4.75 hours to NYC). Still not bad at all and a huge improvement over what we have now and would make it highly competitive vs driving and flying.

When was it, the mid to late 90's maybe, when they were going to do a "proof of concept" maglev train from the airport to downtown Pittsburgh, then continue the maglev line from Pittsburgh to Philly, with a stop in Harrisburg.

I think there was some maglev company in Pittsburgh or the suburbs at the time.

It would only take like an hour or an hour an a half to get from the 'burgh to Philly, those were the days, if only they built that maglev line across the Commonwealth back then!

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by cjseliga

When was it, the mid to late 90's maybe, when they were going to do a "proof of concept" maglev train from the airport to downtown Pittsburgh, then continue the maglev line from Pittsburgh to Philly, with a stop in Harrisburg.

I think there was some maglev company in Pittsburgh or the suburbs at the time.

It would only take like an hour or an hour an a half to get from the 'burgh to Philly, those were the days, if only they built that maglev line across the Commonwealth back then!

They should have just extended the Sky Bus from South Park.