Proposed electrical work for Keystone Service

[jacorbett70]

Amtrak is planning to upgrade the electrical wiring for Keystone Service between Philadelphia and Paoli. The contractor held an "open house" to announce preliminary information. Here is a link to a news story.

http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2012/05/24/main_line_suburban_life/news/doc4fbd81ffec32b023436827.txt

I was there. Only 15 people attended plus one from Amtrak. It is only preliminary with more detailed information coming out next year. Most of the questions were that people living near the tracks would object to construction noise at night as well as tall, unsightly towers in their neighborhood. Also the cutting away of trees near the tracks.

- It is not for faster or more frequent train service but is needed to maintain reliability of current service

- The project would take five years to complete, and be from 2015 and 2020

- They plan to have only one of the four tracks, maybe two, out of service at one time, and are trying to avoid too much service disruption with SEPTA.

- some work at day and the bulk of it at night; they will try to mitigate noise at night

For those who want lots of detail, here includes images of the material that was handed out:

 

[PRR 60]

That is VERY interesting. The catenary structures on that section of the Harrisburg line are among the oldest used by Amtrak (about 95 years old). The steel pipe support columns have lots of problems, so the fact that they are going to replace them is not a surprise. I knew the catenary work was being planned.

What is a surprise is that they are proposing to put a 138kV transmission line out that corridor. Right now, the Amtrak electric transmission path from Zoo (Philadelphia) to the west runs on SEPTA (Ivy Ridge), the abandoned PRR R/W toward Norristown, and finally west on Norfolk Southern (Dale Secondary) to the Harrisburg Line west of Malvern. This project proposes to replace that old path with a 138kV line that would run on the new catenary structures from Zoo to Paoli.

Smart move, if they can pull it off. The existing path, old and remote from other Amtrak facilities, is a huge headache for Amtrak. It would be great for them to get a new line on their own R/W and kiss the old line goodbye. The operative phrase is, "if they can pull it off." That area of the Philly metro area is very high income, has lots of lawyers, and is not usually receptive to things like this. Amtrak has the advantage of being Amtrak, and being able to put on their federal government hat and ram things through without pesky problems like local or state regulation. It will be interesting to see what happens here.

 

[afigg]

That is VERY interesting. The catenary structures on that section of the Harrisburg line are among the oldest used by Amtrak (about 95 years old). The steel pipe support columns have lots of problems, so the fact that they are going to replace them is not a surprise. I knew the catenary work was being planned.

What is a surprise is that they are proposing to put a 138kV transmission line out that corridor. Right now, the Amtrak electric transmission path from Zoo (Philadelphia) to the west runs on SEPTA (Ivy Ridge), the abandoned PRR R/W toward Norristown, and finally west on Norfolk Southern (Dale Secondary) to the Harrisburg Line west of Malvern. This project proposes to replace that old path with a 138kV line that would run on the new catenary structures from Zoo to Paoli.

Smart move, if they can pull it off. The existing path, old and remote from other Amtrak facilities, is a huge headache for Amtrak. It would be great for them to get a new line on their own R/W and kiss the old line goodbye. The operative phrase is, "if they can pull it off." That area of the Philly metro area is very high income, has lots of lawyers, and is not usually receptive to things like this. Amtrak has the advantage of being Amtrak, and being able to put on their federal government hat and ram things through without pesky problems like local or state regulation. It will be interesting to see what happens here.

I saw news articles about the plans for replacing the entire electrical system with the 138kV power line being re-routed to along the line several months ago. You may be right in that Amtrak could run into some significant NIMBY resistance for the 138kV line 60-75 feet above the ground and up to 100' over some bridges from the communities along the Main Line. I grew up in the area, so I'm familiar with it. Still many families there with old money. My reaction is this is a power line running above a busy 4 track railroad line ROW that has been there for a long time and in many places which is blocked or shaded from view by trees. The 138kV line should not be that noticeable or that big a deal. But some locals may not be rational about it.

On the other hand, the new catenary and electrical lines will be entirely in Amtrak's ROW, so I don't know if the locals would have much legal leverage to block the 138 kV if they tried to. Makes sense for Amtrak to re-locate the 138 kV power line to their own controlled ROW to reduce maintenance costs in the longer term.

I tried to find copies of the presentation or public EIS documents on-line, but no such luck. I did find several relevant links though - the right google phrase search can turn up interesting nuggets:

2010 Request for Design services describing the design work project for the 20 mile corridor.

Burns Group, which it looks like won the 2010 contract solicitation, project web page with photos.

News article from April 26 on the project as Amtrak started the process of meetings.

The construction work is expected to take from 2015 to 2020? Five years for 20 miles of catenary? Yikes. Hope the new catenary is constant tension as a stage of replacing all the catenary on the Eastern Keystone.

 

[jacorbett70]

They said constant tension is not planned as it is not needed for the speeds, which are limited by curves along the ROW. In fact the catenary wire itself won't be replaced.