LANCASTER, Pa. — The federal government has awarded $1 million for a preliminary engineering study for a long-range, multi-million dollar commuter rail system linking Lancaster, Cumberland and Dauphin counties, the Lancaster New Era reported.
Officials from the Capital Area Transit were scheduled to announce the Federal Transit Administration’s grant today at a news conference at their Harrisburg headquarters. The money is earmarked for the preliminary engineering and environmental study phase for 39 miles of the 54-mile so-called CORRIDORone project.
“Our pursuit of regional rail is as passionate and invigorated as ever,” said Dick Miller, CAT’s chairman, in a prepared statement released today.”The FTA’s funding approval for preliminary engineering is another tremendous leap forward for the development of regional rail in Central Pennsylvania.”
The CORRIDORone rail line would make frequent trips to Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, Steelton, Middletown, Mount Joy and Lancaster. Plans also call for a rail station at Harrisburg International Airport.
Cost for the entire CORRIDORone project is estimated at about $76 million, and project leaders are examining several ways to pay for it, according to earlier news reports.
The 39-mile segment would connect East Mechanicsburg via Harrisburg to Lancaster. The engineering and environmental study for that segment is expected to begin sometime later this fall and span 18 months, according to the news release. Project officials expect to begin the final design and engineering phase in 2004.
Construction could begin that same year, according to a news release.
CORRIDORone is the first of a series of potential rail corridors in Central Pennsylvania linking six counties. The other three counties include York, Perry and Lebanon.
Some of the federal funding announced today will be used to make “significant upgrades” to Red Rose Transit operations in Lancaster as well as in bus operations in Dauphin and Cumberland counties.
The spokesman did not have information available as to how much money would go toward the bus services.
Officials from RRTA could not be reached to comment this morning.
CAT’s partner in the project is the Modern Transit Partnership, a non-profit organization formed in 1997 to educate Central Pennsylvanians about mass transit, particularly rail transit.
The FTA in January also awarded a $1 million grant to determine if residents would use the rail system. The study showed 76 percent of 840 people surveyed would use the rail line, according to earlier reports.