PHILADELPHIA — Amtrak has begun a $122 million project to improve its Harrisburg line between Lancaster, Pa., and Harrisburg, a project that will see some trains replaced by a bus bridge on that 36-mile segment four days a week for more than six months beginning April 8.
Those outages, along with schedule adjustments at other times, will allow Amtrak to complete the project in nearly half the original two-year timeline.
“Amtrak is making historic infrastructure investments through projects like this one, which will replace obsolete 1950s-era rail infrastructure which is at the end of its useful life,” Laura Mason, Amtrak executive vice president of capital delivery, said in a press release. “We’re taking a fresh approach and expediting this important project with a combination of single- and full-track outages that will improve work efficiencies and reduce the duration of customer impacts.”
Overall, work began March 15 and is slated to be completed in late December. The outages are scheduled to begin April 8 and run through Nov. 21. Mondays through Thursdays, between approximately 8 a.m and 4 p.m., Keystone Service trains will be replaced by buses, which is estimated to add approximately 45 minutes to trip times. Current schedules available on the Rail Passengers Association website suggest this will affect five trains a day in each direction; Amtrak says it will affect fewer than 450 passengers daily. The New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanians will continue to operate through that segment middays, and will offer additional seating capacity. More schedule information is available at the Amtrak website or on the Amtrak mobile app.
Work will include replacement of the existing wood ties with 113,000 concrete ties, which have an expected lifespan of 60 years compared to the 25-year estimate for wood ties; installation of 43 track miles of rail; and cleaning and refreshing of 226,500 feet of ballast.
David, you are correct, most of the Keystone trains are pretty much full leaving Philly. These stations are at the western end of the line.
Is this going to be a repeat of last year? What freight customers are going to be impacted by this work? How is Amtrak going to do this work? Is it going to strip down to the bare surface and then install fabric and subgrade then basic under grade. Then lay welded rail on concrete ties. Ballast & surface. dress. then final surfacing? How many CPs and freight sidings ASre the turnouts going to be wooden or concrete?
So 5 trains in each direction carrying a total of less than 450 passengers means on average each of these Keystone trains transports about 45 passengers that wouldn’t fill one Amfleet coach. Interesting…
I was thinking the same thing! Then replace the wood ties with concrete ties. I hope the quality is better than the ones used on the Northeast corridor. They only lasted about 5 yrs. 122 Million seems like a lot of money for so few customers. Is the low ridership because it towards the end of the route? You would think that Harrisburg would be a popular destination since it is the Capital of PA