Greater Reading Chamber Alliance updates community on passenger rail service restoration

Oct. 10—The effort to bring back passenger rail service between Reading and Philadelphia after a four-decade absence is a big deal around Berks County.

And lots of people are keenly interested to hear about how it's going.

The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance attempted to satiate some of that curiosity by holding an informational session at Alvernia University's Reading CollegeTowne last week. The meeting was aimed at providing an update on the process and a rough map of the road that needs to be traveled to bring the idea to life.

Berks County Commissioners Chairman Christian Leinbach said the effort to bring passenger rail service back to the county has been a collective undertaking.

"We are at an incredible point in this process, but we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for people working together toward a common objective," he said. "I cannot overemphasize how important it is for us to agree on what we are trying to accomplish and then to commit to work together to do that."

Leinbach said this attempt to restore service is different from previous attempts, mostly due to the cooperation between the three counties where the service would pass through.

In July 2022, Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties formed an authority to establish the groundwork for the proposed plan to restore passenger rail service between Reading and Philadelphia. The line would include stops in Reading, Pottstown and Phoenixville.

"My honest belief is that we will have passenger rail service in the future," he said. "I have watched this grow over the last several years. And, while I can't predict the future, I believe we are at a unique point in time."

Leinbach said the 2021 federal infrastructure bill, which provides funding for new service corridors, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that can help make the costly project financially feasible.

Where the effort stands

Tom Frawley, Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority executive director, provided an overview of the project's status.

He said the authority is waiting to learn if it will be accepted into a federal program that would help make the restoration of service a reality.

This spring the authority submitted an application to the Federal Railroad Administration to be included in a grant program that will distribute millions of dollars from the infrastructure bill.

They were initially informed that the first round of awards would be announced in September. But that has since been pushed back to November.

During a meeting with representatives from the Federal Railroad Administration in August, authority members were told that 90 eligible applications were submitted. It's unclear how many of those will be accepted or how much money the federal government has set aside for the first round of funding.

Frawley said the federal funding is essential to bringing service back to the region. However, he cautioned that even if the authority gets accepted into the program it will still take four to five years to get the service running.

If accepted into the program, the authority would receive $500,000 to develop a service plan. It would examine ridership and revenue forecasts, capital programming and an operational analysis.

The authority would also be able to begin negotiations with Amtrak and Norfolk Southern about using their existing tracks.

But, Frawley said, the authority is not simply waiting to hear about its fate with the grant program.

The authority is getting a jump on developing a service plan thanks to $750,000 in federal funding Berks received last year. That money was part of a program that allows members of Congress to request money to support community projects.

Frawley said the service plan is just the first step in what is likely to be a long process. Once the plan is complete, the next step will be moving onto the preliminary engineering phase.

That phase will show the authority whether the project is feasible. If it is, it will move to the implementation phase, which includes final design and starting the service.

Where would the Reading station be located?

While the restoration of passenger rail service may be years away, community members are already working to figure out details such as where trains would stop in Reading.

Jim Gerlach, president of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, said efforts are underway to find the best location for the station and to create a strategic plan in regards to potential economic development around the station.

"We want to get as ready as we can, as soon as we can for the restoration of passenger rail service," he said. "We don't want to be in a position where we wait around and then things begin to happen. So now is the time to be working locally to make sure we are ready."

Gerlach said they will use a nearly $143,000 state grant the chamber received in March from the Commonwealth Financing Authority to accomplish some of the tasks that will help the city prepare for the return of service.

He said a working group consisting of stakeholders from the community has been formed and tasked with answering two questions: What is the ideal location for a train station in Reading and how can the city and county take advantage of that renewed service in terms of economic revitalization?

They have hired international consulting firm Stantec to help find the most appropriate location. He said the analysis is focusing on a handful of sites and should be complete in a few months.

Gerlach said the site of station will be just north of Penn Street or just south of Penn Street. He said possible locations could be the parking lot on Reed Street across from the Berks County Services Center, a strip of land next to the Santander Arena on Penn Street or near the BARTA Transportation Center on Franklin Street.

He stressed that the new station doesn't have to look like the Franklin Street Station, which is owned by BARTA and hosts a restaurant operated by Saucony Creek Brewing Company.

"It could be a kiosk structure with just an overhang that meets the needs for what we anticipate for rail service at the beginning and then build that out over time," he said. "It could be a portion of the old station itself. It could be a lot of different configurations."

The chamber has also hired landscape architectural firm Simone Collins to help create a transit-oriented development plan for the zone around the station. He said that process will take up to 16 months and will rely heavily on input from community members, business owners in the zone and the residents who live there.

"The plan will really look at revitalizing interest in the property in that zone in a way that enhances the quality of life of that part of that city," he said. "They will be doing a tremendous amount of outreach."

Gerlach said outreach will be important in every step of the process to ensure the success of bringing back passenger rail service.

"We want everyone to understand what is going on and provide us with your thoughts because that is the only way for us to have the kind of service that the community really, really wants," he said.