The passenger-rail news wasn’t good Wednesday, but a local representative remains hopeful.

At a hearing of the State House Transportation Committee in Altoona, a PennDOT representative reported that a recently completed study showed that state costs alone would make it financially unfeasible to add two daily round trips between Altoona and Pittsburgh to the Amtrak Pennsylvanian that currently crosses the state both ways every day.

Still, a followup study is on the way, and some of the premises on which PennDOT relied may merit reconsideration — such that upgrading passenger rail service in western Pennsylvania from its existing inadequate state might still make sense, according to state Rep. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona, and others who spoke at the hearing.

Commissioned last year, the PennDOT study predicted that its own cost for adding two daily trains would be from $1.2 to

$3.7 billion — and that those improvements would add only 550 to 850 daily one-way trips, said Jennie Granger, PennDOT’s deputy undersecretary for multimodal transportation.

Those improvements would include addition of track for some or all of the route, but not the cost of right-of-way acquisition, environmental remediation or the access and liability expenses incurred by Norfolk Southern, which owns the track — a key part of its freight network, according to Granger.

The findings have led PennDOT to scrap the idea of a “detailed” followup study, but Norfolk Southern has agreed, nevertheless, to do its own followup study to identify its role in accommodating one additional train per day.

The study would be done with the understanding that PennDOT would pay all costs of the study and all costs for needed improvements, according to Schmitt, Granger and Norfolk Resident Vice President Rudy Husband.

“Even though PennDOT does not seem receptive, I still want to know what Norfolk Southern needs,” Schmitt said after the hearing. “If we can do it, how much will it cost (and) is there some way to figure out how to fund (it).”

Rail advocates hopeful

Passenger rail advocates from the Pittsburgh area are similarly hopeful, and believe that stepping up frequency of service is the ultimate ticket for success.

Still, it will be challenging to add passenger service to a freight system that is already nearing capacity, with 40 to 60 freight trains daily, in an area where mountainous terrain compounds the problems — and at a time when freight demand is expected to double over the next 20 years, Norfolk’s Husband said.

Among proposed improvements, in addition to more mainline track, are sidings so that freight trains can park to let passenger trains go by; straightening or bypassing curves, so passenger trains can go faster; additional signaling, to help ensure against freight-passenger conflicts; additional station platforms, to avoid the need for passenger trains to switch tracks when loading and off-loading; and other station upgrades to encourage ridership.

Freight-passenger conflicts already occur daily, according to Husband.

There are five parallel tracks running through Altoona, and every time the eastbound Pennsylvanian approaches the city, it needs to cross over from the easternmost track to the westernmost, so that it can stop along the passenger station platform, then after taking on passengers, it must recross the tracks to get back to its running lane, Husband said.

During that entire time, “we’re shut down,” Husband said of freight operations nearby.

The solution to that problem is a platform on the other side of the tracks, but that would be expensive, officials indicated.

Also expensive would be longer sidings, which will be necessary, because trains are longer, due to Norfolk’s recent adoption of Precision Scheduled Railroading, an efficiency measure.

And yet the current service — one daily round trip — is spectacularly inadequate, according Mark Spada, president of the Western Pennsylvanians for Passenger Rail, and Lucinda Beattie, vice president of transportation for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Norfolk’s Husband talked about complications, but simplicity may actually be the best approach, Beattie said.

The driver of that approach needs to be an increase in frequency of service, Spada said.

Currently, with the eastbound Pennsylvanian arriving in Altoona in midmorning and the westbound Pennsylvanian arriving in late afternoon, it’s difficult or impossible to use the service for business or enjoyment across the state and return the same day.

Conversely, those living along the same mainline between Harrisburg and Philadelphia can not only take care of business and return the same day, they can commute to work and in many cases, may not even need to worry about a timetable — as there are 14 trains per day running between those cities, according to Spada and Beattie.

It makes sense to build up service in western Pennsylvania in the way it happened in the east — “incrementally,” Beattie said.

It happened with service additions, coupled with improvements in electrification, trackage and signaling, along with station upgrades, she said.

Unfortunately, people in the western part of the state have seen daunting numbers like the $38 million cost of a high-speed rail system, and they’ve dismissed the whole idea of enhancement, she said.

What they should consider is the practicality of adding trains at moderate expense to see whether ridership grows, then, if it does — as people see that it’s practical to use for work and enjoyment — expand further, Beattie and Spada said.

You don’t need all the ultimate costs to be paid upfront, she said.

As ridership increases, clarity will increase on where investment is needed and on how to get the money, she said.

The funding of projects like station upgrades can be shared by PennDOT, with legislative allocations and local communities using block grant funding, she indicated.

Ridership is good

Ridership on the Pennsylvanian — good in spite of the inadequacy of the service — gives cause for optimism, according to Spada.

Currently, more than 215,000 riders per year use it, which is “a tremendous accomplishment,” he said.

Its seat occupancy percentage is among the highest for Amtrak routes, Spada said.

In 1996, when there were two round-trips a day, 450,000 people rode, so the additional service was reflected proportionally in ridership, he said.

Expanding service in western Pennsylvania would have many benefits, both for the communities east of Pittsburgh and for Pittsburgh itself, according to Beattie.

In seven years, there will be a shortage of 80,000 workers in the Pittsburgh area, studies show, Beattie said.

One way to help fill the shortage will be to provide a congestion-free means for commuting from communities like Greensburg, Latrobe, Johnstown and even Altoona, she said.

In the 1960s, there were 12 trains a day, and people routinely commuted from such places, Beattie said.

Expansions of regional rail service is working elsewhere — particularly in the Washington, D.C., area and in California, Spada said.

Still, it can’t be done without careful preparation, according to Husband.

“We don’t want to squeeze in passenger service unplanned,” Husband said. “That would be doomed.”

Making passenger rail service feasible for western Pennsylvanians is in line with modern notions of sustainability, Schmitt said.

It requires government subsidies, but so do all modes of transportation — although some subsidies are hidden, like the cost of repairing damage caused by heavy trucks to roads and bridges — a point brought up by one of the experts speaking Wednesday, Schmitt said.

The post-World War II model of one person riding alone in their personal vehicle needs to give way to modes of travel less damaging ultimately to our quality of life and the environment — and more in line with what younger people are demanding, he said.

He and his wife were in Europe a couple years ago and experienced the benefits of the huge investment there in rail transit, he said.

People can work on laptops on trains, which in Europe can reach 200 mph, he said.

They can’t do that sitting in traffic jams in front of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel, he indicated.

Yet ultimately, for expanding rail service in western Pennsylvania, the question will be, “Can we justify it?” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 94907038.