(The following report appeared on the Patriot-News website on March 26.)
HARRISBURGH, Pa. — It has been half a century since Reading Railroad passenger trains, including the famed Queen of the Valley and Harrisburger, made their way from Harrisburg to Lebanon and beyond, and back.
The old Reading right-of-way, now part of the Norfolk Southern system, survives, though with only two tracks instead of the four that existed in rail’s heyday.
So, the resumption of passenger service is possible — and in a few years, with higher gas prices, likely quite desirable. But there is a major caveat: Freight traffic on the line, 40 to 50 trains a day and growing, will require restoration of at least one additional track. That’s going to require a major public-private partnership between the state of Pennsylvania and Norfolk Southern.
Discussion of such a partnership should be both part of and independent of a study being undertaken to determine the feasibility of providing “Corridor Two” commuter rail service linking Lebanon, Hershey and Harrisburg.
This corridor likely was the more logical starting place for a regional rail system than the original plan to link the West Shore to Harrisburg and Lancaster in “Corridor One.”
In any event, there isn’t any question that it would be advantageous to both highway users and the railroad to increase the capacity of the Harrisburg-to-Lebanon line to shift more freight from trucks to rails. But it needs to be designed with a view to accommodate the resumption of commuter service and, eventually, more distant rail service to Reading, Allentown, northern New Jersey and New York.