Description
PennDOT, Amtrak, and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) are working together to support modification and expansion of the state-supported Pennsylvanian service between Pittsburgh and New York City from one to two daily trains in each direction. In order to mitigate train delays that would result from increasing the frequency of the Pennsylvanian service, NS will construct a set of 11 infrastructure projects along the NS-owned rail between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh that will improve operational reliability for both passenger and freight trains on the shared corridor.
The bulk of work will be adding capacity and improving routing flexibility in the Harrisburg and Altoona areas, where train congestion impacts passenger rail service the most. Additional crossovers will be constructed at key locations to allow train passes and manage operating passenger trains due to many stations only having one platform.
The complete set of projects are expected to be completed within 8 years (anticipated 2030).
A subset of Early Action improvements are being accelerated with completion expected in three years, which will permit a schedule modification to the existing Pennsylvanian schedule and initiation of the new daily train (anticipated in 2026). Until then the existing Pennsylvanian will continue its current operation.
The proposed set of infrastructure projects includes: (*denotes Early Action)
- Harrisburg new main line and interlocking configuration improvements
- Enola new main line and interlocking configuration improvements*
- Lemoyne Connector Track to Enola Yard*
- Camp Hill Connector Track upgrades*
- Mifflin interlocking upgrades
- Hawstone interlocking upgrades
- Altoona new main line and interlocking configuration improvements
- Johnstown (east) interlocking upgrades
- Johnstown (west) new interlocking*
- Pittsburgh interlocking upgrades
- Pittsburgh Station new main line
In December 2023, Governor Josh Shapiro announced over $140 million in passenger rail investments though the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail grant program and the Corridor Identification and Development program.
These funds will help support the expansion of passenger rail along the Keystone West corridor between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. To support the expanded operations, the Commonwealth with invest more than $200 million in infrastructure and safety improvements, which will now be partially offset by this federal investment.
