Date and Time
Location
Schmidt Center
Reading Area Community College , Reading PA 19602
10 South Second Street
Reading, PA 19602
The last passenger train left Reading in 1981. What will it take to restore passenger train service to Berks County?
The Berks Alliance with the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance is supporting a study on the economic impact of restoring passenger rail service to our region. Other communities along the corridor from Reading to Valley Forge are working to restore passenger trains to their communities. Every day, people are commuting from their homes in Berks County to jobs in other areas and every day, people are traveling to our region for their jobs. Our highways are increasingly congested.
With the advent of the Drexel Medical School at Tower Health, along with other economic development projects in our region, the roads are likely to become increasingly clogged. Being able to take a train to the Philadelphia area for a sports event, a concert, to do some shopping all become an incentive to restore passenger trains to our region. One of the factors that led to the revitalization of Harrisburg and Lancaster was the ability to take trains back and forth to Philadelphia, and to connect to New York, Baltimore and Washington.
But there are challenges. Given the current infrastructure, passenger trains would have to share the lines with freight trains. The two entities that control the tracks, Norfolk-Southern and SEPTA would have to agree to restore the passenger service. There are restrictions on the types of engines that can be used along parts of the rail lines. And the cost of upgrading the tracks and restoring train stations are another factor.
This forum will feature the consulting firm that is assisting with the Economic Impact Analysis, as well as advocates from Phoenixville and Pottstown, who are also working to restore passenger train service. They will be joined by representatives from Tower Health and Drexel University who will speak about the impact that train service could have on their plans to launch a medical school in Reading and host hundreds of residents in our community.
