Learn About Amtrak Upgrades Affecting The Main Line Thurday

ARDMORE, PA – Lower Merion Township is inviting Main Line residents living along the SEPTA and Amtrak rails to an open house meeting for an upcoming electrical system improvement project on tracks. The meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 4, at the Lower Merion Township Administration Building, Second Floor Board Room, 75 Lancaster Ave., Ardmore.

The Philadelphia Zoo to Paoli Transmission Line Project aims to install new electrification system improvements within the existing Amtrak right-of-way between the Philadelphia Zoo substation and the Paoli substation on the Keystone Corridor.

In developing the project, Amtrak, U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, and consultant Michael Baker International prepared an environmental assessment of the project for the public to inspect before it move ahead.

The public is invited to review and comment on the Environmental Assessment until May 12, 2017.

Those who attend the open house Thursday are encouraged to provide feedback on the project's potential impact to the area.

You can see details about the environmental study and more online here.

Hard copies are available at 22 locations – public libraries and municipal buildings – along the project corridor.

The project will entail:

• Construction of new 138-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines within Amtrak right-of-way to replace aging and inaccessible transmission lines outside of Amtrak right-of-way; note that the power feed to the former transmission lines will be deactivated, but the infrastructure will not be physically altered.
• Replacement of 276 and addition of 49 catenary structures (325 total) within Amtrak right-of-way. Catenary structures support overhead lines used to transmit electrical energy to trains. Amtrak right-of-way will now accommodate both the catenary lines and the transmission lines. New structures will be taller to accommodate the added traction power transmission lines. See below for an example rendering and an example overlay.
• Construction of an additional gantry (a structural framework for supporting high-voltage switches) at Paoli substation.
• Demolition of the obsolete substation at Bryn Mawr and construction of a new traction power substation on a slightly larger footprint.

Additionally, the Bryn Mawr substation and the catenary structures along the rail corridor will be removed and replaced.

There will be no changes to or removal of the existing train stations or other major built elements of the railroad corridor.

Image via Shutterstock