Last 2 public grade crossings closed on eastern Keystone

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afigg

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The last two public grade crossings on the eastern Keystone were closed on Wednesday. The Philadelphia to Harrisburg corridor is now sealed with no public road crossings. So there is progress being made with the stimulus money!

There was a Trains Magazine news wire report last week that the closing was imminent, but it did not provide a date. I did some searching and found a Lancaster Online news report, did some more digging and found the PennDOT news release. In my google searches, I came across a 2003 news article on plans to close the 3 last grade crossings in the next several years, but after 2003, PennDOT didn't have the funds, so those plans stalled. Now only a mere 11 years later, with $18 million in stimulus funds, the grade crossing separations are done.

Two At-Grade Crossings to Close on Wednesday. (under New Bridge over the Railroad Opens in Rapho Township).

Construction crews at around 3 p.m. today opened the new bridge that carries Maibach Lane over the Amtrak railroad tracks in Rapho Township, Lancaster County. The new crossing is just east of Mount Joy Borough. Maibach Lane connects Route 230 to the north with Eby Chiques Road to the south.

On Wednesday,Sept. 24,construction crews will close the nearby at-grade crossings just west of the new bridge at Eby Chiques Road in Rapho Township and Mount Joy Borough and a little further west at Newcomer Road, also between Mount Joy Borough and Rapho Township. The closings and removal of these crossings will eliminate the last at-grade public crossings on Amtrak’s 104-mile Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Their removal will also help prepare the way for eventually increasing train speeds on the corridor.

The contractor doing this work for PennDOT is the Trumbull Corporation, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for $7,861,279. Work started in the spring of 2013 and will wrap up next month. The overall project included construction of a new bridge over two tracks of Amtrak and one track of Norfolk Southern on a new state route alignment designated as State Route 4062 (known locally as Maibach Lane). SR 4062 intersects Route 230 just east of Eby Chiques Road (T-347) in Rapho Township. The alignment extends SR 4062 south from the intersection with Route 230 to existing Eby Chiques Road. The project also included a new catenary and railroad electric traction system that was built by Amtrak. Now that the new bridge has been opened to traffic and provides a safer crossing over the railroad tracks, construction crew will close existing at-grade rail-highway crossings on both Eby Chiques Road and Newcomer Road on Wednesday, Sept. 24. Cul-de-sacs are currently being constructed to enable motorists to turn around where the at-grade crossings will be closed.
 
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Interesting, thanks for posting. I was wondering what ever happened to that proposal.

I wonder if, at 104 miles, this would make PHL-HAR the longest continuous stretch of "sealed" tracks in the US outside the NEC?
 
This makes the Keystone Service Amtrak's only current full-grade separated route!

Remember Acela Express and the Regionals still have New London and the other grade-crossings along the Sound in Eastern Connecticut. I guess the Metroliners were fully grade-sperated since those only ever went between NYP (sometimes NHV) and WAS. The Clockers would have been too.
 
This makes the Keystone Service Amtrak's only current full-grade separated route!

Remember Acela Express and the Regionals still have New London and the other grade-crossings along the Sound in Eastern Connecticut. I guess the Metroliners were fully grade-sperated since those only ever went between NYP (sometimes NHV) and WAS. The Clockers would have been too.
Good point about it being the only fully grade separated route.

Of course, the NEC has a much longer contiguous grade-separated stretch from some point in CT all the way down to DC

(and a bit beyond...not sure where the first grade crossing south of WAS is).
 
This makes the Keystone Service Amtrak's only current full-grade separated route!

Remember Acela Express and the Regionals still have New London and the other grade-crossings along the Sound in Eastern Connecticut. I guess the Metroliners were fully grade-sperated since those only ever went between NYP (sometimes NHV) and WAS. The Clockers would have been too.
When was the last grade crossing closed on the southern half of the NEC? I guess it was in the Metroliner era, late 70s? early 1980s during the NECIP?
 
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Sounds great. Now what's needed to push speeds to 125mph?
Back in 2011, when the FRA was redistributing the FL, OH, and WI awards, PennDOT applied for $247 million for track, signal, power, and interlocking upgrades in 5 separate projects for the eastern Keystone. One of the objectives of the application was achieving 125 mph speeds (which was also based on completion of closing the grade crossings which was funded in the original round of stimulus awards). PennDOT only got $40 million for the State interlocking project at Harrisburg.

However, the largest single project was $112 million for Zoo to Wynnefield interlocking modernization and upgrades at the approach to Philly end which has nothing to do with 125 mph speeds. The other 3 projects which were not funded were for upgrades around Paoli, Potts, Thorn interlockings in SEPTA operation territory, If there are only modest track and catenary upgrades to operate at 125 mph on one segment around where the grade crossings were, I could see Amtrak with some money from PennDOT pursuing those upgrades just so they can brand the Eastern Keystone as a 125 mph corridor. Which in turn helps publicize the Keystone service.
 
PennDOT's going to be spending money on the Keystone station replacements first, to get high platforms everywhere, etc. That's probably more valuable for the timetable than 125 mph running. I'm pleased that these are progressing; they were stalled until the new state transportation budget was finally passed.
 
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Whatever happen to the new station in Paradise? They were also going to build a new station in Middletown.
 
I'm not sure what the status of the individual projects is; I've been trying to find out.

http://www.planthekeystone.com/

Here's what it looks like from what I can make out (I could be wrong about some things):

- Lancaster and Harrisburg renovations are funded and under construction

- Middletown is designed and funded and should start construction soon

- Mt. Joy is designed and funded and should start construction soon

- Paoli, Exton, Downingtown, Coatesville, and Parkesburg are still being designed but are expected to be funded by the transportation act (assuming the legislature doesn't raid the fund in later years)

- Ardmore is still being designed and looking for funding (though SEPTA is optimistic)

Worth noting: the Keystone Corridor still has one private farm crossing near Eby Cheques Road! It's not clear whether there's a plan to remove that.
 
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Sounds great. Now what's needed to push speeds to 125mph?
Back in 2011, when the FRA was redistributing the FL, OH, and WI awards, PennDOT applied for $247 million ... only got $40 million for the State interlocking project at Harrisburg.

However, the largest single project was $112 million for Zoo to Wynnefield interlocking modernization and upgrades at the approach to Philly end ... The other 3 projects which were not funded were for upgrades around Paoli, Potts, Thorn interlockings in SEPTA operation territory ...
I followed Neroden's link to the nice Plan the Keystone site, and found this info buried under "Resources".
Can the trains go even faster?
The goal for Keystone East is to accommodate top speeds of 125 mph, reducing travel time to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or less. Work is underway to eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings to minimize the risk of train/vehicle collisions. Five interlockings are being upgraded to allow trains to change tracks at higher speeds. Work is expected to be complete in 2014.
So, eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings. Check.

Upgrade five interlockings -- work to be complete in 2014. Really? Wow!

I knew that work on the grade crossings was finishing up. I didn't know nuthin about the five interlockings. And I don't know nuthin about operating a railroad. But my hunch is that more time savings will come from the modern interlockings than from closing a few crossings.

Guess PennDOT paid for this work out of funds from the big gas tax increase: this year 9.5 ¢ + next year another 9.7¢ + and at least 8¢ more in 2016. Of course, $1,650 million will go to highways. Everything else gets $340 million a year. Not very much spread when spread among SEPTA, Keystone, Pittsburgh transit, bike paths, and safer streets to schools projects. But that's $1 Billion over three years, so yeah, out of a Billion maybe PennDOT can get serious work done on the Keystone East.

Even before benefits from the various upgrades kick in, the Keystone is doing very well. Ridership, year thru July, is up 2.3% from 2013 (as adjusted from multi-trip ticket estimates to e-ticketing actuals) and ticket revenue is up 7.2% from $29.5 million to $31.6 million. Total revenue was $35.7 million. (Hmmn. They sold quite a lot of beverages between NYC and those other destinations. LOL.) Giving a fully allocated loss of only ($4.4 million).

Go a little faster thanks to eliminating grade crossings. Go even faster thanks to new interlockings. Improve stations. This route is heading toward breaking even on operations!
 
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Can the trains go even faster?

The goal for Keystone East is to accommodate top speeds of 125 mph, reducing travel time to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or less. Work is underway to eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings to minimize the risk of train/vehicle collisions. Five interlockings are being upgraded to allow trains to change tracks at higher speeds. Work is expected to be complete in 2014.
So, eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings. Check.

Upgrade five interlockings -- work to be complete in 2014. Really? Wow!

I knew that work on the grade crossings was finishing up. I didn't know nuthin about the five interlockings. And I don't know nuthin about operating a railroad. But my hunch is that more time savings will come from the modern interlockings than from closing a few crossings.

Guess PennDOT paid for this work out of funds from the big gas tax increase: this year 9.5 ¢ + next year another 9.7¢ + and at least 8¢ more in 2016. Of course, $1,650 million will go to highways. Everything else gets $340 million a year. Not very much spread when spread among SEPTA, Keystone, Pittsburgh transit, bike paths, and safer streets to schools projects. But that's $1 Billion over three years, so yeah, out of a Billion maybe PennDOT can get serious work done on the Keystone East.
I had not checked the PlantheKeystone website in a while, because the last time I looked earlier this year, it had not been updated in a year or two. Thought it was dead. Good to see that PennDOT has updated the site and added a lot of useful documents on the station projects.

I would be careful about completion dates for "interlocking" upgrades on the PlantheKeystone website. It is possible that text was cut and pasted from earlier documents or statements from the 2009-2010 period when they expected to be able to advance a bunch of projects before the austerity federal budgets kicked in and the PA transportation funding crisis got bad.

BTW, I don't see the exact text you are quoting on the PlantheKeystone site, but a FAQ response that says:

"The goal for Keystone East is to accommodate top speeds of 125 mph, reducing travel time to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or less. Elimination of the last remaining at-grade crossing is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2014, which will minimize the risk of train/vehicle collisions. In addition, interlocking upgrades are being designed to allow trains to change tracks at higher speeds."

There were several HSIPR grants for NEPA and PE of the interlocking upgrades and design. not for construction work. The design could be what is being completed in 2014. Then PennDOT and Amtrak have to get funding for the construction stage.

As for the PA gas tax and transportation funding increase, SEPTA got a big bump in capital funds in the first year as a up-front increase, which SEPTA badly needed to keep their system running. The wholesale tax increase is ramped up over 5 years, so the total new funding for transit will increase to more than $340 million a year. Fortunately I see I saved a document from last November when the PA state legislature and Gov. Corbett were in the final stages of the fight to pass the bill. I think the final projected numbers are close to or match the quote below:

The proposal generates between $2.3 billion and $2.4 billion for transportation roads, bridges, mass transit and multimodal - by year five. Of that, nearly $1.8 billion would be for roads and bridges; nearly $500 million would be for mass transit; and $144 million for multimodal projects.
The station projects could qualify for funding from the multimodal project pot, although I'm sure that there will be attempts to dress up road projects as "multimodal" by throwing in a bike lane or some such and tap that funding.
edit: wording and typo fix
 
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I'm on a westbound Keystone from Philly to Middletown right now (in the area for a conference). Great news! Making the long-distance drive back to Michigan tomorrow.
 
Can the trains go even faster?

The goal for Keystone East is to accommodate top speeds of 125 mph, reducing travel time to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or less. Work is underway to eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings to minimize the risk of train/vehicle collisions. Five interlockings are being upgraded to allow trains to change tracks at higher speeds. Work is expected to be complete in 2014.
So, eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings. Check.

Upgrade five interlockings -- work to be complete in 2014. Really? Wow!

...
I had not checked the PlantheKeystone website in a while, because the last time I looked earlier this year, it had not been updated in a year or two. Thought it was dead. Good to see that PennDOT has updated the site and added a lot of useful documents on the station projects.

I would be careful about completion dates for "interlocking" upgrades on the PlantheKeystone website. It is possible that text was cut and pasted from earlier documents or statements from the 2009-2010 period when they expected to be able to advance a bunch of projects before the austerity federal budgets kicked in and the PA transportation funding crisis got bad.

BTW, I don't see the exact text you are quoting on the PlantheKeystone site, but a FAQ response that says:

"The goal for Keystone East is to accommodate top speeds of 125 mph, reducing travel time to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or less. Elimination of the last remaining at-grade crossing is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2014, which will minimize the risk of train/vehicle collisions. In addition, interlocking upgrades are being designed to allow trains to change tracks at higher speeds."

...
Took me quite a while to find that quote. You must use a different rabbit hole to reach it.

Across the top of the Home page it lists Stations Access Resources Contact. Click on Resources, then FAC, and under "Can the Trains Go Faster" we find the text you quoted.

However, on the bottom of every page is another list of the other pages Home Stations Access Resources Contact. Click on Resources, then FAC, and under "Can the Trains Go Faster" we find the text I quoted.

Obviously I latched onto outdated and overoptimistic info. Sorry about that. And thanks for your helpful correction.
 
Here's what it looks like from what I can make out (I could be wrong about some things):

- Lancaster and Harrisburg renovations are funded and under construction

- Middletown is designed and funded and should start construction soon

- Mt. Joy is designed and funded and should start construction soon

- Paoli, Exton, Downingtown, Coatesville, and Parkesburg are still being designed but are expected to be funded by the transportation act (assuming the legislature doesn't raid the fund in later years)

- Ardmore is still being designed and looking for funding (though SEPTA is optimistic)
Found the SEPTA FY2015 Capital budget and FY15-FY20 Capital program document (SEPTA document page). Paoli and Exton have Phase 1 projects to build high-level platforms, ramps, etc to become ADA compliant with a 2015-2017 construction period. The Phase 1 project project for Paoli includes 3 elevators, a center high level platform, pedestrian overpass for a $36 million total projected cost. I think SEPTA w. Amtrak is overseeing and funding upgrades for stations on the Paoli/Thorndale line from 30th St to Exton, PennDOT w. Amtrak is handing the stations from Downington westward.

As you noted, Middletown and Mt. Joy are funded and have the approvals and should start construction on new/rebuilt stations by 2015. Downingtown, Coatesville, Parkesburg are still in the study and public review/input stage, which is a process that can drag on for years. Ardmore is looking for funding for the station part of the local development project.

It is does look like, that by sometime in 2017, that Middletown, Mt. Joy, Exton, Paoli will have high level platforms and be ADA compliant with uncertain completion dates for the 4 remaining low level platform stations. Counts as solid progress.

Also, Villanova, only a couple miles west of Ardmore on the Paoli/Thorndale line, also has a Phase 1 project to build high level platforms, ramps, etc to become ADA compliant with a 2015-2017 construction period. The Keystones don't stop at Villanova, but they could if Ardmore can't get funding for ADA compliance. Villanova University is right next to the Villanova station.
 
The proposal generates between $2.3 billion and $2.4 billion for transportation roads, bridges, mass transit and multimodal - by year five. Of that, nearly $1.8 billion would be for roads and bridges; nearly $500 million would be for mass transit; and $144 million for multimodal projects.
The station projects could qualify for funding from the multimodal project pot, although I'm sure that there will be attempts to dress up road projects as "multimodal" by throwing in a bike lane or some such and tap that funding.
Paoli & Ardmore (in SEPTA territory) will get mass transit funding (and apparently so will Exton, according to SEPTA documents). Looks like all the stations from Lancaster to Harrisburg are already funded now (Elizabethtown is actually done). Parkesville, Coatesville, and Downingtown will have to compete for that multimodal fund.
 
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Worth noting: the Keystone Corridor still has one private farm crossing near Eby Cheques Road! It's not clear whether there's a plan to remove that.

I followed Neroden's link to the nice Plan the Keystone site, and found this info buried under "Resources".
Sounds great. Now what's needed to push speeds to 125mph?
Back in 2011, when the FRA was redistributing the FL, OH, and WI awards, PennDOT applied for $247 million ... only got $40 million for the State interlocking project at Harrisburg.

However, the largest single project was $112 million for Zoo to Wynnefield interlocking modernization and upgrades at the approach to Philly end ... The other 3 projects which were not funded were for upgrades around Paoli, Potts, Thorn interlockings in SEPTA operation territory ...



Can the trains go even faster?
The goal for Keystone East is to accommodate top speeds of 125 mph, reducing travel time to 1 hour, 15 minutes, or less. Work is underway to eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings to minimize the risk of train/vehicle collisions. Five interlockings are being upgraded to allow trains to change tracks at higher speeds. Work is expected to be complete in 2014.
So, eliminate the three remaining at-grade crossings. Check.

Upgrade five interlockings -- work to be complete in 2014. Really? Wow!

I knew that work on the grade crossings was finishing up. I didn't know nuthin about the five interlockings. And I don't know nuthin about operating a railroad. But my hunch is that more time savings will come from the modern interlockings than from closing a few crossings.

Guess PennDOT paid for this work out of funds from the big gas tax increase: this year 9.5 ¢ + next year another 9.7¢ + and at least 8¢ more in 2016. Of course, $1,650 million will go to highways. Everything else gets $340 million a year. Not very much spread when spread among SEPTA, Keystone, Pittsburgh transit, bike paths, and safer streets to schools projects. But that's $1 Billion over three years, so yeah, out of a Billion maybe PennDOT can get serious work done on the Keystone East.

Even before benefits from the various upgrades kick in, the Keystone is doing very well. Ridership, year thru July, is up 2.3% from 2013 (as adjusted from multi-trip ticket estimates to e-ticketing actuals) and ticket revenue is up 7.2% from $29.5 million to $31.6 million. Total revenue was $35.7 million. (Hmmn. They sold quite a lot of beverages between NYC and those other destinations. LOL.) Giving a fully allocated loss of only ($4.4 million).

Go a little faster thanks to eliminating grade crossings. Go even faster thanks to new interlockings. Improve stations. This route is heading toward breaking even on operations!
So have they, or are they eliminating this, and any other "private crossing"? Sorry, I am still not clear about those.....
 
Digging through the "Plan the Keystone" site and links from there to news articles, I ran into an article about a public meeting where someone asked about the private farm crossing. The answer from PennDOT was that they didn't have any funded plans to eliminate it at this time.
 
Private crossing are "use at your own risk" so it probably won't affect any increase in speed for the Keystones.
Well, the risks is both parties. Running into a tractor or heavy piece of farm equipment at 125 mph with a cab car on the lead is something you want to avoid, if the private crossing is in future > 110 mph territory. If the private crossing remains, the solution might be a locked gate. Well, if that is acceptable to the FRA for 111 to 125 mph range tracks.

I recall reading the documents for the CHI-STL corridor which has dozens of private crossings used by farmers to access fields with their equipment. The solution there is, IIRC, to install locked gates at each private crossing in the higher speed segments. Only the farmer or authorized persons would have keys to open the gate and there would be sensors to report when the gate is open.
 
I doubt very much that any private crossings without impenetrable barrier protection would be allowed in > 110mph sections. I think they are pretty serious about what they mean when they say "sealed corridor" in that context. They made sure that the last crossing public or private, was removed in Maryland before they allowed increase of speed beyond 110mph there.

But then again, people who are hell bent on doing so can still get on the track as was illustrated in NEC North within the last couple of months.
 
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This makes the Keystone Service Amtrak's only current full-grade separated route!

Remember Acela Express and the Regionals still have New London and the other grade-crossings along the Sound in Eastern Connecticut. I guess the Metroliners were fully grade-sperated since those only ever went between NYP (sometimes NHV) and WAS. The Clockers would have been too.
Good point about it being the only fully grade separated route.

Of course, the NEC has a much longer contiguous grade-separated stretch from some point in CT all the way down to DC

(and a bit beyond...not sure where the first grade crossing south of WAS is).
Featherstone Rd in Woodbridge, VA.
 
Private crossing are "use at your own risk" so it probably won't affect any increase in speed for the Keystones.
Hmmm....this intigues me....I believe they have long eliminated all such private crossings from the NEC, at least between NYP and WAS. They either built a grade separated crossing, or just flat closed it....not sure how they would have to compensate the owner in that case, legally speaking.

So if the private crossing is "use at your own risk", does the engineer still blow the horn for the crossing? It would be the only one left......
 
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