Passenger Trains > SEPTA service slashed

Six regional rail routes suspended, two truncated, in what SEPTA calls "lifeline service." Effective Thursday.

http://septa.org/covid-19/

• REGIONAL RAIL: Service on six lines will be suspended and two others shortened. 
  
  • No service on the Chestnut Hill East, Chestnut Hill West, Cynwyd, Manayunk/Norristown, West Trenton and Wilmington Newark Lines. 
  • Service on two additional lines will be truncated:
  • Paoli/Thorndale: Service will only operate between Center City and Malvern
  • Lansdale/Doylestown: Service only operate between Center City and Lansdale
  • Airport Line service will be reduced from hourly trips to every two hours.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/20 14:26 by Dcmcrider.

Good message from the General Manager that everyone should heed to!

Sad but necessary. 

SEPTA seems to be jumping on certain rail maintenance projects during the slowdown.
The West Trenton, Warminister and the mainline to Lansdale all have track / maintenence crews working.
Seems like a good time to do heavy maintenace that often is hard to do, I assume SEPTA has taken care on controls for the virus.

I did see the 6PM Warmiinister train yesterday stop at Willow Grove, normally 6 full cars, yesterday 2 cars with only a few riders!.

Does anyone know why SEPTA continues to run some service over Amtrk-owned Phila-Malvern trackage while Amtrak has canceled ALL service since March 19 west of Phila?
Andy

rdgrailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SEPTA seems to be jumping on certain rail
> maintenance projects during the slowdown.
> The West Trenton, Warminister and the mainline to
> Lansdale all have track / maintenence crews
> working.
> Seems like a good time to do heavy maintenace that
> often is hard to do, I assume SEPTA has taken care
> on controls for the virus.

The FRA/FTA have been encouraging all properties to jump on maintenance activities during this time and get the difficult stuff done now.  There really isn't a big issue being outside working like this with the virus. More of an issue laboring in tunnels.

twropr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know why SEPTA continues to run some
> service over Amtrk-owned Phila-Malvern trackage
> while Amtrak has canceled ALL service since March
> 19 west of Phila?

Lines are running where the doctors and nurses and police and the like tend to live.  This is why Warminster and Fox Chase are still running and West Trenton is not.

twropr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know why SEPTA continues to run some
> service over Amtrk-owned Phila-Malvern trackage
> while Amtrak has canceled ALL service since March
> 19 west of Phila?


Amtrak cancelled the service because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which finances the trains on that line, TOLD them to. 
Amtrak, as a contract operator, has no say in the matter.  They gave up that authority with PRIIA, which AMTRAK wanted so
they could shift the financial burden on non-NEC routes under 750 miles to the States.

Pennsylvania wanted to limit travel out of the Southeastern Pennsylvania region, which has a number of hot spots. So they
cancelled the trains.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/20 21:55 by GenePoon.

rdgrailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SEPTA seems to be jumping on certain rail
> maintenance projects during the slowdown.
> The West Trenton, Warminister and the mainline to
> Lansdale all have track / maintenence crews
> working.
> Seems like a good time to do heavy maintenace that
> often is hard to do, I assume SEPTA has taken care
> on controls for the virus.
>

With revenue plummeting to almost zero one would think maintenance would be cut especially with decreased use. Perhaps the work in progress is already fully funded capital work not eligible for diversion to operating subsidy. 

Capital improvement project dollars come from a different revenue stream than day-to-day operations.

Soon after SEPTA took over direct operations of Regional Rail trains from Conrail in 1983, the employees went on strike.  That lasted for 108 days and before resuming service, SEPTA had to run special trains on the routes which had seen no or few trains in order to break off the rust from the rails.

It's been 6 months since CHW trains quit running. Anyone hazard a guess or provide an interesting rumor as to when/if it's coming back?