(The following story by William Kibler appeared on the Altoona Mirror website on October 18.)
ALTOONA, Pa. — A bill signed Thursday by President Bush calls for a study that could lead to more rail passenger service for Altoona, said state Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona.
The Rail Safety Improvement Act orders Amtrak to study increasing rail service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.
Based on previous research by the House Transportation Committee, where Geist is the Republican chairman, he says that could mean five passenger trains each way stopping daily in Altoona instead of the current one train.
The ones in addition to the current Pennsylvanian likely would be diesel multiple units like those made by Colorado Railcar, an example of which came through Altoona several years ago on the mainline in a media demonstration led by Geist.
According to a company Web site, they are self-propelled commuter rail passenger cars capable of pulling additional nonpowered coaches, with seating for 92 – and capacity for 200, including standees.
Geist envisions three of them garaged in Altoona for morning runs to Pittsburgh starting at 6, 7 and 8 a.m.
Geist said there’s a 90 percent chance the study will lead to an increase in frequency of rail passenger service for Altoona.
”It’s going to happen,” said Eric Bugaile, executive director of the House Republican Transportation Committee.
It would be nice for passenger rail frequency to increase enough to make traveling by rail to Pittsburgh practical – say for Steelers games, said U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-9th District, who says he now drives to Harrisburg and takes the train to Philadelphia to minimize driving and parking hassles.
The committee hopes to work with Amtrak and PennDOT to plan the study, which would take a look at issues that include rider demand, logistics and financing, Bugaile said.
Prior research and ridership when two or three trains a day came through Altoona shows that there’s sufficient demand, Bugaile said.
There has been only one train each way since November 2004, he said.
Previously, there were two each way in the mid- to late 1990s, he said.
The committee hopes for a public-private partnership to ramp up the service, with the help of money allocated by the new law, the potential for funding based on a Capital Budget line item to construct a fourth set of tracks on the mainline and private funding, Bugaile said.
That fourth track would provide the needed critical capacity to avoid congestion and delays from deferring to freight trains, which even now inconvenience passengers, Bugaile said.
The fourth track would add freight capacity for Norfolk Southern, which could make the committee’s vision a plus for that company, he said.
A jointure of regional transit authorities could take charge of the additional service and hire Amtrak to run it, Bugaile said.
Amtrak will manage the study, working closely with PennDOT, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said.
It’s too early for PennDOT to comment because of a lack of detailed information, department spokeswoman Erin Waters said.
Asked about Geist’s and Bugaile’s predictions, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said, ”If I could write conclusions to studies that haven’t even been started yet, I would be a rich man.”
Under the heading of high-speed rail, the new law also calls for a study of the feasibility of extending the ”Keystone Corridor” to Cleveland.