I have always admired European train travel. I have jumped trains in Italy and taken the train between London and Paris with my kids. We all sat on the train speeding through the Chunnel while reading and viewing the countryside. When we went to Italy for Christmas in 2015, we had lunch in Florence after viewing David and then dinner in Venice. It was amazing, convenient and relatively inexpensive. The only train rides I have taken in the US are between NYC and Philadelphia. I have often looked for trips via Amtrak when I catch a deal and they are usually either too long, not a deal, or inconvenient due to where I need to catch the train.
I caught a new piece about Amtrak’s expansion. According to amtrakconnectsus.com, their plan will
- Connect up to 160 communities throughout the United States by building new or improved rail corridors in over 25 states.
- Introduce new stations in over half of U.S. states, increase rail service to 47 out of the top 50 metropolitan areas.
- Generate $30 billion in direct investments in our communities and reduce carbon emissions by nearly 50% when compared to automobile travel.
- Create an estimated 550,000 skilled labor jobs in communities served through the construction, operation, maintenance and associated economic activity generated by Amtrak.
I am excited about the plan since it connects my immediate area to NYC. Right now, I either have to park at a local train station, ride to the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and jump into an Amtrak or the NJ transit or I drive to Princeton and jump the NJ Transit into NYC. We usually opt for the hour drive to Princeton. Bestie Bob and I drove the 1 mile to the Malvern Train Station and then to NYC via the 30th Street Station. We had several pauses on the tract into Philly because of wet leaves on the track. We left 4 hours early for our Blue Man Group tickets and were just on time because we jumped the Amtrak to go faster at triple the cost.
The Reading NYC route would travel roundtrip three times a day with a travel time of 3 hours one way. The trip would connect Reading to the 30th Street Station in Philly and then head to NYC from there. “A train ride from Reading to Philadelphia would take 1 hour and 37 minutes, with proposed stops in Pottstown, Phoenixville, King of Prussia, and Norristown.” The route would connect dozen universities and more than 50 Fortune 500 companies. Amtrak speculates that this route will help alleviate congestion on I-95 between Philly and NYC due to the 250,000 commuters a day from Philly to NYC.
To find articles related to the Amtrak expansion in your area, I have included a link below:
https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/media/
To access the Amtrak map for potential routes and stations, here is the link:
https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/
References
amtrakconnectsus.com
https://vista.today/2021/09/amtrak-reading-to-new-york-line/
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