The Keystone Corridor is a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) "designated high speed corridor" with a 349-mile (562 km) railroad line between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a top speed of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) . As of November 1, 2006, the track from Lancaster to Parkesburg was upgraded to 110 mile per hour operation, with the section between Paoli and Philadelphia going through a similar upgrade (mainly to allow for 75 to 90 miles per hour (121 to 140 km/h) operation) as part of a USD $145 million project.
Amtrak currently runs two intercity rail services along the Keystone Corridor: the Harrisburg to New York City Keystone Service and the Pittsburgh to New York City Pennsylvanian. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operates daily Paoli/Thorndale commuter rail service between Philadelphia and Thorndale, serving the communities along the eastern part of line known as the "Main Line."
The Broadway Limited, a train that operated between Chicago and New York, used the Keystone Corridor between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and the Northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and New York. Originally a Pennsylvania Railroad train, this route was discontinued by Amtrak in 1995 but later restarted by the passenger rail company and renamed the Three Rivers. The Three Rivers was discontinued in 2005, eliminating direct, passenger rail service between Philadelphia and Chicago (Amtrak still operates Chicago to Washington, D.C. service, but it uses the rail line west of Pittsburgh, with commuters wishing to travel to New York being required to switch to a Pennsylvanian train in Pittsburgh).
The tracks from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg are owned and maintained by Norfolk Southern (which acquired them from Conrail), and is the location of famous Horseshoe Curve west of Altoona. The tracks between Harrisburg and Philadelphia are owned and maintained by Amtrak, and is the only part of the Keystone Corridor that is electrified. The tracks join the Northeast Corridor at Zoo Interlocking near the Philadelphia Zoo and 30th Street Station.
In March 2011, it was announced that Pennsylvania had received a $750,000 grant from the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program to investigate extending high-speed electrified service from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.
Read more about Keystone Corridor: Brief History, High-speed Corridor, Construction Progress, Current Passenger Services, Commuter Rail, Freight Service, Stations and Interlockings, Earlier Studies
Famous quotes containing the word corridor:
“And now in one hour’s time I’ll be out there again. I’ll raise my eyes and look down that corridor four feet wide with ten lonely seconds to justify my whole existence.”
—Colin Welland (b. 1934)