The fifth and final option from the Lehigh Valley Passenger Rail Analysis is Allentown to Reading. This is the odd man out, and I think was studied for completeness. The other alternatives involve connecting Allentown to existing railway hubs (New York/Newark, Philadelphia); Reading has no rail service and hasn’t since 1981. Restoration of Reading to Philadelphia service is being studied.
Allentown-Reading
The route between Allentown and Reading was built by the East Pennsylvania Railroad and part of the Reading Company system. The premiere passenger service on it was the Queen of the Valley, a joint Reading-Central Railroad of New Jersey train that ran from Jersey City to Harrisburg. The Reading half, from Allentown to Harrisburg, ended in 1963.
These days the physical line (“Corridor R”) is part of the Norfolk Southern Railway’s Reading Line. It’s double-tracked and a busy freight corridor. The study is unsure about sufficient space in the right-of-way for a dedicated passenger track.[1] Reading itself still has a significant railroad network, a legacy of being the Reading Company’s hub (there’s also some ex-Pennsylvania Railroad trackage).
Scheduling
The study puts Allentown to Reading at 46 minutes.[2] They assume three intermediate stops.[3] They don’t say where, and only Emmaus and Topton (for Kutztown) seem likely. My November 1962 Official Guide of the Railways shows one intermediate stop–at Fleetwood–and by westbound trains only. The carded time was 48 minutes.
This would be competitive with driving. There’s no interstate between the two cities. The most direct driving route is US-222, with long stretches of unlimited access. To the best of my knowledge there’s no bus service. Greyhound does run a bus between Harrisburg and Allentown, but it doesn’t serve Reading.
Costs
Capital costs are estimated at $450 million. Most of that is for an additional track between Allentown and Reading. Comes out to $7 million/mile. This is cheapest of any of the alternatives, though also the most limited in scope. It helps that the right-of-way is intact, in-use, and in good condition. No fallow branches to be rebuilt or (worse) relaid. There are no significant river crossings either. Rolling stock is $102 million for straight diesels and coaching stock. Given the shorter distance 7 daily round-trips are possible.[4]
Thoughts
Allentown has a population of 125,000. Reading, 95,000. They’re the county seats of Lehigh and Berks counties, respectively. They’re 30 miles apart as the crow flies. Linking them with public transportation ought to be a no-brainer, but I’d question doing it unless we’re certain the Reading-Philadelphia revival is going ahead. That said, creating a corridor like that between Allentown and Reading ought to drive expanded bus service from Reading to Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and possibly boost service from Allentown to New York (not that Trans-Bridge would ever acknowledge it).
Notes
Lehigh Valley Passenger Rail Feasibility Analysis, p. 15. ↩︎
p. 27 ↩︎
p. 39 ↩︎
p. 36. ↩︎