PA: Study helps Pottstown prepare for return of passenger rail

With plans for returning passenger rail between Reading and Philadelphia preparing to begin the next phase, Pottstown is looking at what steps the borough should follow to take the best advantage of the return of rail service.

The examination is being helped along by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which is in the midst of a study looking at that very question.

About midway through the effort, the DVRPC held an open house on Thursday at the North Hall of Montgomery County Community College's Pottstown Campus to discuss its findings and to get input from residents about what they might like to see in a downtown Pottstown served by rail.

Is it higher-density, transit-oriented housing? Workforce housing and development? Is it more public art? Is it better to have trail and bike connections? Is it improved parking?

Or is it all these things?

The roughly 60 people who attended voted with blue stickers on the ideas they thought should take priority.

"This is an to show Pottstown what opportunities the train coming can provide and to decide what they would like to see," said Andrew Svekla, associate manager of the office of smart growth for the DVRPC.

"How do we enhance access to the train station? What quality of life improvements can we look for or encourage when the trains come back?" he asked.

"For example, there is a streetscape study going on with the Pottstown Area Economic Development group, and how does our effort fold into that? Are there building sites that are underutilized? We want people's input and their ideas," he said.

"Rail has been integral to Philadelphia's growth throughout its history," Svekla said.

"We're also looking at how you get people to the station. How can we optimize Pottstown Area Rapid Transit? How do we improve bicycle access? How do we do that without re-inventing the wheel and reinvest in our main streets to the best possible advantage?" Svekla said.

This was not the only opportunity to review options, either. The DVRPC has set up a website — https://dvrpc.github.io/pottstown_station_concept/ — through which materials can be viewed, questions can be asked and comments can be offered through Dec. 31.

Douglassville resident Benjamin Smith said he came to the open house "to see how the train could impact jobs, development and the community." He said he would like to be able to get on a train in Pottstown and go to Philadelphia.

As it turns out, the trip could go even further than that.

Thomas Frawley, executive director of the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority, said the ultimate goal is a "one-seat ride" from Reading all the way to New York City. Having to change trains discourages passengers from using the service, he explained.

There is also a possibility that Norristown could be added as an additional stop, Frawley said. That will depend on which side of the Schuylkill River the technical studies not yet begun show is most efficient in the area around Bridgeport and to go through Philadelphia to 30th Street station.

Scott France, executive director of the Montgomery Planning Commission, said rail service between Reading and Philadelphia ceased in 1989, and ever since then, we've been trying to get it back."

All of those tracks are now occupied by Norfolk-Southern freight trains and the railroad giant was not eager to give up track space in the tightly packed Southeast Pennsylvania region.

At the start of the century, an ambitious effort to establish a light rail commuter service, called The Schuylkill Valley Metro, was sunk by both the ever-growing cost of projects and the method being eyed to pay for it, setting up tolls on Route 422.

But when the idea of bringing AMTRAK into the effort was broached, suddenly things started to become possible, said France. Since then, this project has been accepted into a federal program seeking to improve intercity rail connections, and the first phase is now complete. Frawley said the authority hopes to get the green light this month to begin the second phase.

The current estimate is for the rail service, just a few times a day, to be carrying passengers by 2030, he said.

"We are raring to go," said France.

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