CorridorOne

CorridorOne is a commuter rail system under construction in south-central Pennsylvania, USA, which will link Harrisburg to Lancaster in mid 2006 (with a new station at HIA), and Carlisle in mid 2007. Future corridors will extend commuter rail service to Hershey, Lebanon, and York.

Project background

The CorridorOne project seeks to implement regional rail service along existing rail facilities within the Susquehanna Valley, linking Lancaster with Harrisburg and the West Shore communities of Cumberland County.

Capital Area Transit (CAT) and the Modern Transit Partnership (MTP) are working together to provide the region with a true multi-modal transportation system; a way to connect bus routes, local roads, highways and other means of transportation. A major component of this system is regional rail service along CorridorOne. Planning and analysis activities related to the proposed CorridorOne regional rail system have been ongoing since 1993. Five studies were conducted:

Phase I Transit Alternatives Study, 1993.
Phase II Regional Transit Alternatives Study, 1996.
Transportation Investment Study, 1998.
Federal Transit Administration New Starts Application, 2001.
Transitional Analysis, 2002.

The result of these studies was the identification of a regional rail service in CorridorOne from Lancaster to East Mechanicsburg as the locally preferred alternative for improving mobility and accessibility in the region.

The locally preferred alternative assumes the development of regional rail service within the CorridorOne area as an alternative to automotive passenger vehicle travel to reach employment and other destination areas within the corridor.

Stations

West of the Harrisburg Transportation Center, the proposed project would utilize a combination of restored and existing Norfolk Southern rail line to provide service. Existing rail traffic on this line is currently used exclusively for freight transport. Five new passenger stations would be constructed along this western segment. These stations would be located at:

Harrisburg Hospital (Hospital/Riverfront)
City Island
Lemoyne (West Shore)
Route 15
East Mechanicsburg

A major component of CorridorOne is the purchase of the old Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge by CAT/MTP. The bridge links Harrisburg with City Island and the West Shore. East of the Harrisburg Transportation Center, the project would use existing Amtrak rail line within the Keystone Corridor to provide passenger service to Lancaster. This service would utilize the existing passenger stations in place at:

Harrisburg International Airport (currently under construction)
Middletown
Elizabethtown
Mount Joy
Lancaster

No major physical changes to the existing stations east of Harrisburg are envisioned for the project.

CorridorOne alignment

In the future, an extension of SEPTA's R5 regional rail line is planned from Thorndale to Lancaster, which would link up with CorridorOne. Both SEPTA and CorridorOne operate services on trackage owned by Amtrak, along the Keystone Corridor.

In 1999, the Keystone Corridor was formally recognized as a "designated high speed corridor" by the Federal Railroad Administration, as part of the TEA-21 transportation bill. The State of Pennsylvania will fund half of the project's costs, and Amtrak will fund the other half. Once the project is completed, and regional commuter rail is fully operational between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Amtrak plans to cease servicing smaller stations along the corridor which will be supplemented by CorridorOne and SEPTA trains. This will allow for:

90-minute travel time between Harrisburg and Philadelphia on express trains
105-minute travel time on normal trains
Raising track speed to 110 mph (180 km/h) where possible
Increasing the number of daily round trips from 11 to 14
Replacing diesel trains with electric on Keystone service

Project schedule

Preliminary engineering and environmental studies phase – complete mid 2004
Final engineering design phase – complete mid 2005
Construction phase – complete late 2005 to mid 2007
Lancaster to Harrisburg service – operational mid 2006
East Mechanicsburg to Harrisburg service – operational in 2007

Project setbacks

As of Wednesday, October 12, 2005 the Cumberland County Commissioners oppose the plan for the West Shore link to Carlisle.

CorridorOne Roadblock

External links

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | U.S. regional rail systems