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| Re: The R-8 Newtown line is not dead (826025) | |||
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Re: The R-8 Newtown line is not dead |
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Posted by WillD on Wed Aug 26 23:43:20 2009, in response to Re: The R-8 Newtown line is not dead, posted by shiznit1987 on Tue Aug 25 18:44:24 2009. If it's going to come back, it's going to come back as a spur off of the R3 at Bethayres. Montgomery county will fight to the death not to bring it back, due to the area it runs through being quite wealthy and not all that fond of PTUnfortunately the area most opposed to the restoration is Bryn Athyn, which is located just north of the R3 tracks. Because of that those residents would still have trains passing through their backyards if the Newtown Line were made a branch of the R3 West Trenton. Making the Newtown line a branch off the R2 Warminster with the connection provided by the Trenton Cutoff is a possibility which avoids Bryn Athyn almost entirely. However, splitting the Newtown line from the West Trenton or Warminster lines creates two very weak branches with the Fox Chase and Newtown lines when they could be restored an utilize one train to serve both markets. That having been said I don't see the Fox Chase branch as a particular priority for SEPTA. As Creighton said the R3 to West Chester should be a higher priority, and I'd put the R6 to Pottstown or Reading and R5 to Quakertown or Allentown above an R3 extension. The R3 West Trenton does need help, but SEPTA can alleviate crowding by operating longer peak hour trains, more frequent off-peak trains, and perhaps even constructing a few parking garages in Bucks County to accomodate commuters. I generally prefer a walk-up station, but in this case if SEPTA gets off their ass and starts doing the stuff they've spent the past 15 years talking about I'd rather see areas with no commuter rail for 20 miles get service before we start retreading catchment areas in Bucks and Montgomery counties. We can afford to boost service on existing lines and have people drive until such time as we can rebuild the Newtown line. |
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