by MedicSutton
Good Morning everyone. Yesterday the topic came up of how the Atlantic city line is being underutilized as a Philadelphia transportation option. I wanted to copy my response to the septa/patco thread and get some feedback. I understand that a project of this magnitude would take massive joint private, multi state, and federal investment. That being said there is no reason why the Delval region with a population of nearly 6 million has a archaic and regressive rail transportation system. The focus of my thoughts today is mainly on south jersey but really is part of larger regional transportation like those of which are present in other world class cities.
"i think we need to come at this from a completely different angle and should consider it sooner then later. We have 3 incompatible modes of passenger rail transportation that feed into the Philadelphia Market from south jersey. Number 1 you have patco which is the most convenient route into center city but stops short at 16th street. Parking is limited during week and the peak trains are at capacity. Then you have the river line which feeds into Camden and connects with patco and AC trains but is not attractive due to the lack of matching timetables. Now let's get to the Atlantic city line. Absolutely underutilized but probably for good reason. The slow roundabout run that it takes from where it splits off in westmont. Runs up into cherry hill and pennsauken. Then runs at a snails pace across the delair bridge where it can be delayed for a bridge opening and then stopped short of the NEC where it needs clearance to cross over several active tracks on the busiest passenger rail line in the country. Then to run through north philly and back around zoo finally arriving at 30th. We have essentially piecemealed together 3 rail lines out of what is left from the prsl where things seemed to actually make more sense. Let's face it. Our highways are at capacity and Philadelphia is growing. South Jersey is growing just as rapidly and if we are not careful in how we plan our transportation grid for the future we will be faced with even crazier commutes.
My pipe dream solution.. Build a rail tunnel from Camden into and under center city Philadelphia where it could be connected and expanded at 8th and market to stop and continue through the cct to 30th st upper concourse. On the Jersey side all passenger rail should become standard which means what runs to Trenton runs to lindenwold runs to ac. 4 tracks from lindenwold straight into the city which means the AC trains express from lindenwold on the inner 2 tracks and the lindenwold trains take the outer tracks to make local stops. Some may say then what do we do with cherry hill and pennsauken. My thought is this. River line feeds directly into 4 track mainline before making main stop in Camden. The 42 corridor line which is desperately needed does the same. Then what also desperately needs to be done is a complete rebuilding of the Mt. Holly line through to route 206 following the original route through merchantville over 130 where it connects at pavonia where it would follow the river line down into Camden. We need a major investment in our transportation infrastructure now. I've been working in Camden and Philadelphia for over 20 years and I can say that I am fairly certain this whole area is about to explode with jobs and new development. We need to stop throwing good money after bad. It's time to go hard or go home."
"i think we need to come at this from a completely different angle and should consider it sooner then later. We have 3 incompatible modes of passenger rail transportation that feed into the Philadelphia Market from south jersey. Number 1 you have patco which is the most convenient route into center city but stops short at 16th street. Parking is limited during week and the peak trains are at capacity. Then you have the river line which feeds into Camden and connects with patco and AC trains but is not attractive due to the lack of matching timetables. Now let's get to the Atlantic city line. Absolutely underutilized but probably for good reason. The slow roundabout run that it takes from where it splits off in westmont. Runs up into cherry hill and pennsauken. Then runs at a snails pace across the delair bridge where it can be delayed for a bridge opening and then stopped short of the NEC where it needs clearance to cross over several active tracks on the busiest passenger rail line in the country. Then to run through north philly and back around zoo finally arriving at 30th. We have essentially piecemealed together 3 rail lines out of what is left from the prsl where things seemed to actually make more sense. Let's face it. Our highways are at capacity and Philadelphia is growing. South Jersey is growing just as rapidly and if we are not careful in how we plan our transportation grid for the future we will be faced with even crazier commutes.
My pipe dream solution.. Build a rail tunnel from Camden into and under center city Philadelphia where it could be connected and expanded at 8th and market to stop and continue through the cct to 30th st upper concourse. On the Jersey side all passenger rail should become standard which means what runs to Trenton runs to lindenwold runs to ac. 4 tracks from lindenwold straight into the city which means the AC trains express from lindenwold on the inner 2 tracks and the lindenwold trains take the outer tracks to make local stops. Some may say then what do we do with cherry hill and pennsauken. My thought is this. River line feeds directly into 4 track mainline before making main stop in Camden. The 42 corridor line which is desperately needed does the same. Then what also desperately needs to be done is a complete rebuilding of the Mt. Holly line through to route 206 following the original route through merchantville over 130 where it connects at pavonia where it would follow the river line down into Camden. We need a major investment in our transportation infrastructure now. I've been working in Camden and Philadelphia for over 20 years and I can say that I am fairly certain this whole area is about to explode with jobs and new development. We need to stop throwing good money after bad. It's time to go hard or go home."
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the Courage To Continue that counts"
-Winston Churchill
-Winston Churchill