Will The R3 Train Continue Pulling Into Wallingford Station?
Can you imagine the end of local rail service? What impact would such a move have on local commuters, and what would be the negative impact on housing values in our community?
The suspension of the Media-Elwyn regional rail line in 2015 is called for in the SEPTA’s appropriately labeled doomsday plan.
Amid it’s highest ridership in a quarter-century, and it’s highest Regional Rail ridership ever, SEPTA has recently unveiled a plan to eliminate nine of its 13 rail lines and shorten two others, close a subway line, and convert trolley routes to bus lines if the state doesn’t come up with more money for public transit this year. This “service realignment” plan would begin next year, and service cuts would continue until 2023.
Deteriorating railroad infrastructure, inherited by SEPTA from the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company, are the biggest drivers of SEPTA’s maintenance funding gap. So the ax will fall hardest through service cuts on Regional Rail passengers.
Regional rail infrastructure problems have been center stage locally with the closure on two consecutive Sundays of the Crum Creek rail bridge between Swarthmore and Wallingford. The bridge, originally built in 1895, required $100,000 in emergency repairs. There are also issues with 3 other Media-Elwyn rail bridges that span the Ridley, Darby, and Cobbs creeks.
The state legislature is wrangling over how much to provide for public transit, how much to increase gas taxes and motorist fees, and linking transportation to efforts to privatize the state liquor business. Failure to adequately fund public transit could trigger the doomsday plan.
Wallingford PA Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086
