NORRISTOWN, Pa. — SEPTA is floating an ambitious plan for a regional rail line that would run parallel to the Pennsylvania Turnpike through Bucks, Montgomery and Chester counties, the King of Prussia Courier reported.
The 62-mile Cross County Metro would serve 22 stops – including Norristown and the King of Prussia mall – on its route from Trenton to Thorndale, Chester County. The project’s estimated at just over $1 billion.
On Wednesday, SYSTRA Consulting, which is planning the Cross County Metro project, laid out the rail proposal for the public at One Montgomery Plaza from 4:30 to 8 p.m.
In November 1996, SEPTA began to consider various transit proposals. A total of 16 transit plans were considered, including electric and diesel rail lines. However, the cross-county alternative was seen as the best alternative.
In 1997 while focus groups evaluated the plan, it was suggested that stations be put in King of Prussia, said Lisa DiTaranti, a vice president of SYSTRA.
As DiTaranti fielded questions, she pointed to a large drawing of the proposed commuter line.
“People were interested in going to King of Prussia, so we added those stops,” she said.
Locally, there are planned stations at Fort Washington, Plymouth Meeting, the Norristown Transportation Center, Valley Forge, First Avenue, Plaza-Court and King of Prussia. Traveling west along the Route 202 corridor, there are planned stops at Tredyffrin (Paoli), Great Valley, Glenloch, Exton, Downingtown and Thorndale.
The Valley Forge stop would be constructed near Route 23. The proposed Tredyffrin station would be built near Route 252 (Bear Hill Road), not far from the existing Paoli Main Line station parallel to Lancaster Avenue (Route 30).
Currently, planners are performing environmental studies along the proposed route.
“We’re doing that right now, and we anticipate holding public hearings in March,” she said. A total of three public hearings are planned, one each in Bucks, Montgomery and Chester counties. Tredyffrin residents asked SEPTA to find an alternative to a previous plan to put a station at Cassatt Road, a densely populated area with residential and commercial development near Route 252 and 202. However, DiTaranti said, growth in the area is expected to continue.
“There is a need in this (202) transportation corridor, and in the future there will be an even greater demand,” she said.
Preliminary engineering plans may be completed as early as 2004. If built all at once, the rail line would take about nine years to complete, which would make the train operational by 2013; if built in two phases, 2015. Transportation planners are hoping that the federal government will contribute 50 percent of the $1.02 billion cost. Some combination of state funding and private investment is anticipated for the balance.
“The engineering is pretty straightforward, but how it gets paid for is the challenge,” DiTaranti said.