All things Harrisburg (Keystone) Line

Alphaboi wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:03 am Will the new Scranton-NYC service be run as a new Keystone Service line?

I prefer "Lackawanna Service", not just because of the railroad's heritage, but also the region as
the Lackawanna region.

R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:11 pm

Alphaboi wrote: ↑Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:03 am Will the new Scranton-NYC service be run as a new Keystone Service line?

I prefer "Lackawanna Service", not just because of the railroad's heritage, but also the region as
the Lackawanna region.

Still fits with my idea of naming after First nations names for local waterways.
Lackawanna and schuylkill service.
But Keystone should keep that name.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:55 am Still fits with my idea of naming after First nations names for local waterways.
Lackawanna and schuylkill service.
But Keystone should keep that name.

I'm with those names. Just need to get tribal approval and it's golden.

Except that Schuylkill is of Dutch origin -- not exactly the First Inhabitants, but maybe far enough back to be grandfathered? (Didn't the NYC have a train at one time called the Peter Stuyvesant?
That might serve as a precedent.)

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:34 pm Except that Schuylkill is of Dutch origin -- not exactly the First Inhabitants, but maybe far enough back to be grandfathered? (Didn't the NYC have a train at one time called the Peter Stuyvesant?
That might serve as a precedent.)

Well, that and as mentioned before, the route largely follows the Schuylkill River. So it would get in for more than one reason.

Over on the Avelia Liberty thread a question was asked about the state of the Keystone catenary and the electric capacity of the 138kV transmission system associated with the route. Has Amtrak given up on the replacement of the 1ED and 2ED transmission circuits from Zoo to Earnest? The Wikipedia article on the 25Hz transmission system and some of the threads on this forum have strongly implied that the lack of capacity of these circuits and the loss of the Trenton Cutoff circuit(s) to transmit power from Richmond are contributors to the limited electric capacity of the Keystone. What are the practical limits of distributing power from Safe Harbor, Lamokin and Richmond to the Keystone transmission lines and the catenary?

My general understanding is that the problem is the 1915 system still place between Paoli and Zoo (a few spots have been replaced). Ironically as a rider for SEPTA and Amtrak this is the section that seems to have fewer reliability issues. West of Malvern and east of Parkesburg seems to have a lot more problems.

On a side note, some poles are being replaced just east of Saint Davids.

The poles at Ardmore will likely be replaced shortly as a result of the station rebuild.

https://www.dailylocal.com/2022/02/01/s ... -for-2025/

Downingtown station move / rebuild with 2025 start date.

Some highlights:
1. Move to where 322 crosses under the Main Line.
2. Standard modernized station.
3. Approximately 1000 parking spaces spread over 4 lots

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 02, 2022 12:42 pm The poles at Ardmore will likely be replaced shortly as a result of the station rebuild.

Foundations for new poles have been installed.

Shame than they can't add in more housing and buildings besides parking lots.

Hankin is building 400 plus multifamily units along with commercial space at the location:

https://www.hankingroup.com/wp-content/ ... 2022-2.pdf

Speaking of Downingtown, is there a reason why PennDOT would own the station instead is SEPTA?

My guess is because Amtrak owns the line and stops at Downingtown.

Don't let the title fool you: Amtrak eyes express bus between Reading and Philadelphia

Let me summarize the article to make it clearer. Amtrak is looking to establish Thruway bus service between Reading and Philadelphia while it gets train service started up. The intent is to get the Thruway bus going as an interim express premium service, with connections to trains and twice daily round trips. Once the trains are running, the bus is terminated.