Pennsylvania is pressing ahead with plans to bring passenger train service from Reading to Philadelphia, but one national transportation expert calls it “absolutely a boondoggle.”
Tom Frawley, executive director of the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority (SRPRA), remains optimistic about the plan, which is part of a partnership with Amtrak.
“We’re very fortunate. We have an excellent starting point,” Frawley recently told Montgomery County commissioners. “We’re starting with a double-track, high-quality railroad, essentially conditions where we could operate a passenger train at 80 mph today.”
Some additional track and signal work will be needed, he said. The system has federally required positive train control (PTC), and [freight carrier] Norfolk Southern “is a willing partner.”
“That’s not always the case, so we’re very fortunate in that regard,” said Frawley.
Also, he said there are existing train stations in Reading, Pottstown, and Phoenixville that the new train service could use. He said that local communities would have the “primary responsibility” for the station buildings and parking lots.
The federal Corridor Identification and Development Program (CIDP) is a three-step program, with the first step scoping, he said. The federal government granted SRPRA up to $500,000 for that phase. The second step is preparing a service development plan that needs a 10 percent match. Step three is preliminary engineering, design, and environmental documentation requiring a 20 percent match.
The existing Norristown Transportation Center could be employed if the route chosen goes through Norristown rather than running on the other side of the Schuylkill River.
Pottstown is using Delaware Valley Regional Planning funds for its station planning, and the historic station in Pottstown “is a candidate for the future station,” he said.
“We’re going to have a lot of focus on environmental justice, under-represented communities,” he said. “People may not realize but Reading, at one point, was the poorest city in the country. Not just the state, but the entire country.” The new rail service has “a lot of opportunity to create a lot of benefit for a lot of people,” he said.
The next two steps are expected to cost $10 or 12 million, he said. Some $250,000 from the state’s casino fund has been transferred. And Congress mandated a $750,000 grant to Berks County that is to be used for final design and/or construction. Berks, Chester, and Montgomery counties have invested $100,000 in the project, too.
They also expect to get additional state and federal funding, he said.
DVJournal asked Frawley what the total estimated cost for the entire project is. He said it has yet to be determined.
“The capital cost will be developed in Step 2 of the Corridor Identification and Development Program, which will begin early in the New Year,” said Frawley.
“There’s a great deal that’s been accomplished,” he said. “We’re wrapping up Step One and about to get into Step Two.”
The three counties will need to reaffirm their support for the project by June, he said. Depending on the corridor alignment selected, The authority will also formalize its relationships with the “host railroads,” Norfolk Southern, and either CSX or SEPTA. The authority will also formalize its relationship with Amtrak.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amtrak has never made a profit since Congress nationalized the railroads in 1970. The troubled rail system’s ridership plunged during the Covid pandemic. The good news is that 2024 ridership returned to pre-Covid levels, reaching a record high of 32.8 million customer trips.
The bad news is that even with the increased ridership, Amtrak reported a fiscal 2024 operating loss of $705 million.
One concern about the Reading line’s viability is the fact that SEPTA–which provides commuter rail, bus and subway service to a more populous area and with an established base of riders–continues to struggle. Recently, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced an infusion of $153 million in state highway money to SEPTA. Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware counties pledged $22.95 million in additional funding.
Asked about the SRPRA Amtrak project, economist and Independence Institute transportation expert Randal O’Toole called it “absolutely a boondoggle.”
“Buses make far more sense than conventional trains for moving people,” said O’Toole. Philadelphia-Reading is part of Amtrak’s ‘Connects Us’ plan, which was “issued just before Congress gave it billions of dollars for expansions.”
O’Toole “reviewed all of the proposed new services and found that almost all of them were already served by bus lines that were usually faster and charged lower fares than Amtrak would charge. The exception was Philadelphia-Reading, and that was because Pennsylvania regulators have prevented private bus companies from serving this route.
“While Northeast Corridor ridership has recovered from the pandemic, state-subsidized ridership has not. But Amtrak needs to convince states to subsidize operating losses to justify spending the money Congress has given it for the necessary capital improvements to run more trains,” said O’Toole. “Both federal and state taxpayers lose when it succeeds.
“Nor do passenger trains contribute anything to economic development. Consider this: the average American travels 15,000 miles a year by automobile, 2,300 miles a year by plane, several hundred miles a year by non-transit buses, around 100 miles a year by mass transit, 100 miles on foot, and 30 miles by bicycle, but only 19 miles a year by Amtrak. How is increasing that 19 to, say, 20 or 21 miles going to attract economic development? Development goes where the people are, and people are near highways and airports, not railroad tracks.
“The real question is why do we use passenger trains, which are expensive and inflexible, to do things that buses can do for less money and with greater flexibility?” O’Toole asked. “The answer is a combination of nostalgia and pork barrel. If Pennsylvania wants to promote mobility between Reading and Philadelphia, it should get out of the way of private bus companies that are eager to enter that market without any subsidies.” Currently, Amtrak provides bus service for that route.
Nevertheless, the Montgomery County commissioners remain on board.
“It sounds like a complicated but exciting project,” said Montco Chair Jamila Winder. “I look forward to seeing the plans come to fruition.”
Commissioner Tom DiBello, Montgomery County’s representative on the SRPRA board, asked how many other Amtrak corridor program applications “are out there?”
Frawley said there were more than 100 initially. Of those, 69 were accepted. Only two are in Step Two.
“We are anticipating that we will be among the very first nationally to enter Step Two…I think we’ll be among the first to proceed to implementation.”
DiBello added, “We are actually moving at a very rapid pace. We could be one of the leaders nationally in this corridor program.” DiBello, is Montgomery County’s representative on the SRPRA board.
