Why doesn’t SEPTA order regional metro rolling stock that can work with both the broad street line and regional rail network? Modernization of both at once before screaming FRA automation buddy expansion of NJ service via PATCO expansion
I imagine that the Fox Chase line can be built into an extension of the Broad Street Subway, a system with four tracks that does not have very much train traffic.
@@295g295The Fox Chase line is built to railroad standards while the Broad Street Subway is built to transit standards. I don’t see any advantage to running that line into the subway even if it could be done.
8:59 TECHNICALLY there was an express service between Worcester and South Station that was called the "Heart to Hub" but it was killed in the pandemic. It was the only passenger train on the Worcester Line that passed through Framingham in revenue service without stopping. It was revived recently and now stops in Framingham
I remember Railworks! (barely) It was instigated by the one bridge, but it was actually a whole-scale rebuild, with bridges (plural), roadbed, tracks, catenary, and a new station at Temple University (along with the near-total demolition of North Broad). Terminal A isn't the newest station before Wawa. That would be 9th Street Lansdale, followed (iirc) by the current station at Temple University. The old station was known as "Columbia" (after Columbia Avenue-now known as Cecil B Moore), and was located a few blocks to the south. The Stoney Creek Branch is actually owned by SEPTA.
The retraction from Parkesburg was actually to Downingtown. Thorndale was opened later (as a new station). SEPTA was able to do it because that was where the trains deadheaded to anyways, so it didn't really effect the schedule.
I think it would’ve been interesting to include the fact the Amtrak served Suburban station for a little while, and the fact that SEPTA continued service of the “Crusader” and “Wall Street” from the Reading Railroad
Great points! Although, I think the former might have technically fallen under an Amtrak related entry instead of SEPTA explicitly, while the Crusader and Wall Street would also fall into the named passenger trains entry.
From PRR 30th Street Station to Eastwick is on PRR, as from the pull over PRR going over the Marcus Hook PA Wilmington, Newark Delaware line has the Airport line being on B&O RR line to Airport Stations.
The Great Valley Flyer wasn't the only named SEPTA train. The West Trenton line had the Neshaminy Flyer, and the Doylestown line had the North Penn (which had formerly been the flagship express to Bethlehem and Allentown).
The National Train Day and Rail Rodeo events remind me of what I saw in Wellington recently. It was a display of both modern and heritage rolling stock to celebrate 150 years since opening of the Wellington to Lower Hutt railway, which now forms part of the Hutt Valley and Melling lines. As for Septa's reasons for cancelling their CRRC order, that speaks volumes about the manufacturer's reputation.
Great details I did not know. I would suggest a big picture comment at the end. SEPTA, for example, has not increased frequency on Regional Rail for decades and hardly improves. Check out the studies by Vuchic, Kikuchi, Bruun et al from 1993 available at the Penn archives.
On the whole, great as usual, though there's one nitpick I have, which has to do with the Pop-Up Metro. SEPTA didn't propose the use of the concept on the West Chester line, but Rail Development Corp, who is still backing the concept approached West Chester's borough council about the idea, and the Borough Council's committee for rail service has run with it ever since. If anything, SEPTA is one of the idea's harshest critics, due to safety concerns in the event of a collision, since the ex-London Underground D stock they use are technically classified as Light Rail. As much as I love the concept, I'm definitely skeptical of it there, and in fact my first video was about it!
Thank you for the suggestion. I assumed SEPTA initially proposed it since there was concept art of the railcar in a SEPTA livery, and said photos also made several railway news headlines.
New Rochelle to New Haven is 60Hz, not 12.5. It is however, 12.5 thousand volts (12.5kV) between New Rochelle and New York I believe it is 60Hz, although it changes close to sunny side yard
In 1996-8, there was a proposal by a private company to take over Amtrak's Harrisburg service. They would use rebuilt Jersey Arrow II EMUs running in 4-car sets and talked about offering some sort of light meal service. Unfortunately, this went nowhere, possibly due to the poor condition of the Arrow IIs.
I'm pretty sure that the Strasburg had a couple of other direct fantrips to/from Philadelphia. At the very least, 7002 and 1223 ran all over the Pennsylvania, from Rockville to Maryland, in the early 1990s-hauling something like 18 cars! GG1s operated into 30th Street Upper all the time up until 1952. They were heading in and out of Broad Street Station.
Thanks for the correction about the GG1s. The reason as to why I didn't include 7002 and 1223 for the SEPTA iceberg is that the train didn't use any SEPTA equipment.
Ugh I really hope that SEPTA doesn't end up getting BMUs if they ever extend to West Chester. Anything less than fully electrified service is a concession that SEPTA shouldn't need to make.
A better idea would be to have electric units with batteries as well. They could run to West Chester as battery and electric the rest of the way. This could also be used on other non-electrified former routes.
@@mityace Ultimately, this is just another concession. SEPTA needs to electrify all the way to West Chester instead of relying on unproven battery-electric trains. It really just doesn't make any sense not to other than that putting up catenaries is expensive, or because NIMBYs are scared of wires, which are just excuses. I'd almost rather they used DMUs instead of relying on Battery-electric, or buying fully new trains with onboard batteries just to accommodate their lack of electric infrastructure West of Wawa. At least we know DMUs are reliable and there are reputable manufacturers making them nowadays that operate successfully on other services. Batteries just don't make any sense for trains, mode-switching or otherwise, and they carry zero operational benefits but all of the negatives of having to carry your power source.
Software? The SIVs weren't really built with "software". The real issue is different power systems-ac versus dc motors and the resulting different acceleration curves.
they should restore the old connection between the thorndale line to west Chester that's long been gone would be so nice since right now you you either take the wonky when ever it shows up bus or you take the full r5 to philly then to westchester when the line opens again
SEPTA still owns the stony creek and bethlehem branches. all of septa’s tracks that they own or operate on are shared with the East Penn and Penn Northern, there are no adjacent tracks
No, they can use the lower level to run to the Wheeler Hill Connecting Track, which connects the Trenton Line to the Morristown Line just before North Philadelphia Station.
Me, who talks about SEPTA a lot on my channel and is a regular rider: *grabs popcorn* this is gonna be good
Pass the popcorn. This is going to be interesting.
Pass me the popcorn, too.
Why doesn’t SEPTA order regional metro rolling stock that can work with both the broad street line and regional rail network? Modernization of both at once before screaming FRA automation buddy expansion of NJ service via PATCO expansion
I imagine that the Fox Chase line can be built into an extension of the Broad Street Subway, a system with four tracks that does not have very much train traffic.
@@295g295The Fox Chase line is built to railroad standards while the Broad Street Subway is built to transit standards. I don’t see any advantage to running that line into the subway even if it could be done.
This series has some of the best videos on RUclips. Thank you so much
never in my life would i think to see an iceberg about septa
8:59 TECHNICALLY there was an express service between Worcester and South Station that was called the "Heart to Hub" but it was killed in the pandemic. It was the only passenger train on the Worcester Line that passed through Framingham in revenue service without stopping. It was revived recently and now stops in Framingham
I remember Railworks! (barely)
It was instigated by the one bridge, but it was actually a whole-scale rebuild, with bridges (plural), roadbed, tracks, catenary, and a new station at Temple University (along with the near-total demolition of North Broad).
Terminal A isn't the newest station before Wawa. That would be 9th Street Lansdale, followed (iirc) by the current station at Temple University. The old station was known as "Columbia" (after Columbia Avenue-now known as Cecil B Moore), and was located a few blocks to the south.
The Stoney Creek Branch is actually owned by SEPTA.
The retraction from Parkesburg was actually to Downingtown. Thorndale was opened later (as a new station). SEPTA was able to do it because that was where the trains deadheaded to anyways, so it didn't really effect the schedule.
I think it would’ve been interesting to include the fact the Amtrak served Suburban station for a little while, and the fact that SEPTA continued service of the “Crusader” and “Wall Street” from the Reading Railroad
Great points! Although, I think the former might have technically fallen under an Amtrak related entry instead of SEPTA explicitly, while the Crusader and Wall Street would also fall into the named passenger trains entry.
From PRR 30th Street Station to Eastwick is on PRR, as from the pull over PRR going over the Marcus Hook PA Wilmington, Newark Delaware line has the Airport line being on B&O RR line to Airport Stations.
Engines of SEPTA Mentioned 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The Great Valley Flyer wasn't the only named SEPTA train.
The West Trenton line had the Neshaminy Flyer, and the Doylestown line had the North Penn (which had formerly been the flagship express to Bethlehem and Allentown).
The National Train Day and Rail Rodeo events remind me of what I saw in Wellington recently. It was a display of both modern and heritage rolling stock to celebrate 150 years since opening of the Wellington to Lower Hutt railway, which now forms part of the Hutt Valley and Melling lines.
As for Septa's reasons for cancelling their CRRC order, that speaks volumes about the manufacturer's reputation.
Great details I did not know. I would suggest a big picture comment at the end. SEPTA, for example, has not increased frequency on Regional Rail for decades and hardly improves. Check out the studies by Vuchic, Kikuchi, Bruun et al from 1993 available at the Penn archives.
I didn’t know the Allentown & Auburn railroad was a museum…
Glenside Yard is that of Reading Railroad Yard.
On the whole, great as usual, though there's one nitpick I have, which has to do with the Pop-Up Metro. SEPTA didn't propose the use of the concept on the West Chester line, but Rail Development Corp, who is still backing the concept approached West Chester's borough council about the idea, and the Borough Council's committee for rail service has run with it ever since. If anything, SEPTA is one of the idea's harshest critics, due to safety concerns in the event of a collision, since the ex-London Underground D stock they use are technically classified as Light Rail. As much as I love the concept, I'm definitely skeptical of it there, and in fact my first video was about it!
Thank you for the suggestion. I assumed SEPTA initially proposed it since there was concept art of the railcar in a SEPTA livery, and said photos also made several railway news headlines.
New Rochelle to New Haven is 60Hz, not 12.5. It is however, 12.5 thousand volts (12.5kV) between New Rochelle and New York I believe it is 60Hz, although it changes close to sunny side yard
In 1996-8, there was a proposal by a private company to take over Amtrak's Harrisburg service. They would use rebuilt Jersey Arrow II EMUs running in 4-car sets and talked about offering some sort of light meal service. Unfortunately, this went nowhere, possibly due to the poor condition of the Arrow IIs.
Last I heard, SEPTA still owned the line all the way to Bethlehem, through Quakertown.
I'm pretty sure that the Strasburg had a couple of other direct fantrips to/from Philadelphia. At the very least, 7002 and 1223 ran all over the Pennsylvania, from Rockville to Maryland, in the early 1990s-hauling something like 18 cars!
GG1s operated into 30th Street Upper all the time up until 1952. They were heading in and out of Broad Street Station.
Thanks for the correction about the GG1s. The reason as to why I didn't include 7002 and 1223 for the SEPTA iceberg is that the train didn't use any SEPTA equipment.
Just a reminder the double deckers are meant to run with the single level coaches not replace them
30:28 - "You can't beat the system. ... SEPTA System! "
This was a tag-line / jingle of radio advertising in the 1970s.
35:35 - What will happen to the trains that Amtrak has been using for fast Acella Express services after being run by Amtrak for 20-25 years?
They're still in service for the foreseeable future, although I think four or five sets have been taken out of service for extra parts.
After working for a septa train station for two years, septa is very disorganized and mismanaged lol
it's Lank-ister
not Lan-caster
24:02 - Does this station now have a second name, other than "30th Street" ?
Yes it’s now called William H. Gray lll 30th street station
Please dear lord do an MBTA one
Ugh I really hope that SEPTA doesn't end up getting BMUs if they ever extend to West Chester. Anything less than fully electrified service is a concession that SEPTA shouldn't need to make.
A better idea would be to have electric units with batteries as well. They could run to West Chester as battery and electric the rest of the way. This could also be used on other non-electrified former routes.
@@mityace Ultimately, this is just another concession. SEPTA needs to electrify all the way to West Chester instead of relying on unproven battery-electric trains. It really just doesn't make any sense not to other than that putting up catenaries is expensive, or because NIMBYs are scared of wires, which are just excuses. I'd almost rather they used DMUs instead of relying on Battery-electric, or buying fully new trains with onboard batteries just to accommodate their lack of electric infrastructure West of Wawa. At least we know DMUs are reliable and there are reputable manufacturers making them nowadays that operate successfully on other services. Batteries just don't make any sense for trains, mode-switching or otherwise, and they carry zero operational benefits but all of the negatives of having to carry your power source.
@@himbourbanist Yeah fr, just use diesel or put one some catenary
@@TheWildIVYunfortunately it won’t ever be a diesel because the commuter tunnel doesn’t have any ventilation 😢
@@mxsalm Well they could do an engine change at Wawa, just like they do at Washington D.C. and New Haven
Software? The SIVs weren't really built with "software".
The real issue is different power systems-ac versus dc motors and the resulting different acceleration curves.
I was referring to the software of the Vs and the electrical components of the IVs.
they should restore the old connection between the thorndale line to west Chester that's long been gone would be so nice since right now you you either take the wonky when ever it shows up bus or you take the full r5 to philly then to westchester when the line opens again
SEPTA still owns the stony creek and bethlehem branches. all of septa’s tracks that they own or operate on are shared with the East Penn and Penn Northern, there are no adjacent tracks
Rides septa regional rail today. Sees the video. Lets go 😂
How exactly would amtrak get from 30th street bottom level to the reading tracks? Would they have to leave from the top level?
No, they can use the lower level to run to the Wheeler Hill Connecting Track, which connects the Trenton Line to the Morristown Line just before North Philadelphia Station.
The Pacer should really have been used on the Cynwyd line, what with the obvious Welsh 🏴 origins of Cynwyd... and Bala.
It's afenseve to call tube trains "subway cars" it's London not new York