Dear KTFC member or friend:
Our Coalition members in western PA got some good news last week when they received word that PennDOT and Norfolk Southern are negotiating a deal that would add a second daily Amtrak route between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.
Coalition member Mark Spada, president of Western Pennsylvanians for Passenger Rail, noted that the group had been working since 2012 to add another passenger route.
Plans call for platform improvements and additional amenities at the nine stations along the route. In addition to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, the stations are in Lewistown, Huntingdon, Tyrone, Altoona, Johnstown, Latrobe and Greensburg.
The cost for adding the route is estimated at between $142 million and $170 million and will come from the bipartisan federal infrastructure package that passed last November. Construction of the required infrastructure will take three to five years.
Be of Good Cheer,
— The Wolff
TRANSPORTATION ISSUE UPDATE
- The long-awaited addition of a second daily Amtrak Route between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg will become a reality in three to five years, thanks to passage of the bipartisan federal infrastructure package.
- A study by Stacker utilizing data from Clunker Junker found that Pennsylvania is in the top 10 of states with the most pothole complaints.
- Williamsport City Council unanimously voted in favor of creating a transit authority to relieve the city of handling finances for the local bus system.
- U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says Pittsburgh can play a key role as America switches from gas-powered cars to cleaner electric vehicles in the next few years.
- With Pennsylvania set to invest millions of federal and state dollars in electric vehicles over the next few years, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has vowed to make sure no one is left out.
- NFI Group Inc. announced that its subsidiary New Flyer of America Inc. has received a new contract from SEPTA for a firm order of 220 forty-foot, heavy-duty, hybrid-electric transit buses.
- As expected, the additional annual $5 fee for non-exempt vehicles registered in Centre County will remain in place for another five years.