1.
2016 Democratic National Convention
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The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 through to July 28,2016. Her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia, was chosen by delegates as the nominee for vice president by acclamation. Delegates at the convention adopted a party platform, through a voice vote, to take to the 2016 elections. The progressive shift was often credited to Sanders and the influence of members appointed by him. The platform featured a focus on issues, such as Wall Street reform, stronger financial regulation. Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered the address of the convention, with First Lady Michelle Obama. Former President Bill Clinton served as headlining speaker on the second day, while Vice President Joe Biden. Clintons speech was generally well-received, and she would go on to have a 7% convention bounce in national polling, various performers also appeared during the convention, including Demi Lovato, Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz and Katy Perry. The live announcer for the four day event was Sylvia Villagran, the convention was not without controversy, as it was subject to various conflicts between supporters of the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party. Schultz subsequently resigned as chair of the Committee, and thus as chair of the Democratic National Convention, in 2016, the Republican and Democratic conventions were held in late July before the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, instead of after the Olympics as in 2008 and 2012. One reason why the Republican Party scheduled its convention in July was to avoid a longer. The Democrats then followed suit, scheduling their convention the week after the Republicans convention, Philadelphia was selected as the host city on February 12,2015. The primary venue was the Wells Fargo Center, the Pennsylvania Convention Center was also used, the last convention held in Philadelphia was the 2000 Republican National Convention, the last time the city hosted the Democratic Convention was in 1948. Philadelphia was selected over finalists Columbus, New York City, Birmingham, Cleveland, edward G. Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia and governor of Pennsylvania, played a crucial role in securing Philadelphia as the host city. The Host Committee is composed of 10 prominent Philadelphia business executives, civic, the Reverend Leah Daughtry is the CEO. A cache of more than 19,000 e-mails was leaked on July 22,2016 and this caused Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, timed the release of the e-mails to occur shortly before the Democratic convention in hopes of maximizing its impact, by May 19,2016, five organized groups of Sanders supporters had applied for demonstration permits from the Philadelphia police department. However, on July 22, the union and American Airlines reached an agreement, the city of Philadelphia expected 35,000 to 50,000 protesters throughout the convention
2.
Market Street (Philadelphia)
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Market Street, originally known as High Street, is a major east–west street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is signed as Pennsylvania Route 3 between the 38th Street and 15th Street, the High Street was the familiar name of the principal street in nearly every English town at the time Philadelphia was founded. But if Philadelphia was indebted to England for the name of High Street, nearly every American town is, in turn, indebted to Philadelphia for its Market Street. Long before the city was out or settled, Philadelphias founder. The citys first market stalls were situated in the center of the thoroughfare starting at Front Street, the stalls soon became covered and were not taken down as planned. Later, additional covered sheds appeared west of Center Square as the city expanded westward, the street began to be called Market Street around 1800. The roads new name was official by an ordinance of 1858, ironically. Market Street has been called the most historic highway in the United States because of the historic sites along its eastern section. Many of Benjamin Franklins activities were centered along Market Street and his house was located near the intersection of Fourth Street, and he may have performed his famous kite-flying experiment near Third and Market Streets. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in a house once located at the Seventh Street intersection. The mansion of Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution, was located near Sixth and this house, known as the Presidents House, was used by George Washington and John Adams as their residence during their terms as President. Around 1795 Theophilus Cazenove lived at Market Street, several important finance and publishing firsts also occurred along Market Street between Second and Fourth Streets during the 18th century. Market Street is still one of the locations of business. Market Street runs from Millbourne to Front Street in Center City, at Front Street, a bridge over Interstate 95 brings traffic from Penns Landing, on the western bank of the Delaware River, onto westbound Market Street. Market Street runs one way, eastbound, between 20th Street and 15th Street, with traffic diverted onto JFK Boulevard. Market Street is interrupted between 15th Street and Juniper Street by Philadelphia City Hall, and technical does not intersect with Broad Street as a result, a pedestrian-only path continues Market Street across the City Hall block. Between 12th Street and roughly 20th Street, Market Street is heavily commercial, the street continues westward, crossing over the Schuylkill River via the Market Street Bridge, into and through University City and West Philadelphia. SEPTAs Market-Frankford Line runs along Market Street, as a subway east of 44th Street and as a line above Market Street
3.
Pennsylvania Route 3
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Pennsylvania Route 3 is a 24. 3-mile state highway located in the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania. The route connects U. S. Route 322 Business in West Chester with PA611 in Philadelphia, the route begins in downtown West Chester and heads east out of town as a one-way pair of streets. Between West Chester and Upper Darby Township, PA3 follows a divided highway known as West Chester Pike through suburban areas. Along this stretch, the passes through Edgmont, Newtown Square, Broomall. The route has an interchange with Interstate 476 between Broomall and Havertown, upon reaching Upper Darby, PA3 heads into Philadelphia along Market Street. Kennedy Boulevard and ending at Philadelphia City Hall, Philadelphia and West Chester were linked by a dirt road dating back to 1793. The Philadelphia and West Chester Turnpike Company was created to build a road between the two places in 1848. The turnpike was built as a road between Philadelphia and Newtown Square in the 1850s before becoming a stone road in the 1880s. A horse-drawn rail line was built part of the turnpike in the 1850s. The state took over the West Chester Pike in 1918, in 1927, the route was designated as part of PA5. PA3 replaced the PA5 designation between West Chester and Philadelphia in 1937, Trolley service was replaced by buses in the 1950s to allow for the widening of PA3 between West Chester and Philadelphia to four lanes. By 1960, PA3 was shifted to end at US13 in Southwest Philadelphia, the routing was shifted to US13 west of University City by 1970 before the route was extended east to Philadelphia City Hall during the 1970s. PA3 begins at an intersection with US322 Bus. in the area of the borough of West Chester in Chester County near the historic Chester County Courthouse. From here, the route heads northeast on the pair of East Market Street eastbound. The one-way streets carry two lanes in each direction as they pass downtown businesses, at the intersection with Matlack Street, the westbound direction of PA3 shifts from East Chestnut Street to East Gay Street. PA3 leaves West Chester for West Goshen Township and comes to an eastbound exit, at this point, both directions of the route come together and head east along four-lane divided West Chester Pike, passing through residential areas. PA3 comes to an interchange with the US 202/US322 freeway and runs past businesses, the road curves east-southeast at the Strasburg Road intersection and crosses into East Goshen Township, where it continues past suburban neighborhoods and commercial establishments. PA3 enters Westtown Township and reaches an intersection with PA352, the road heads east through wooded areas with residential subdivisions as it continues into Willistown Township
4.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
5.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Amtrak
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Founded in 1971 to take over most of the remaining U. S. passenger rail services, it is partially government funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains each day over 21,300 miles of track, some track sections allow trains to run as fast as 150 mph. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas, 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D. C, the name Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track. From the mid-19th century until about 1920, nearly all intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail, historically, U. S. passenger trains were owned and operated by the same privately owned companies that operated freight trains. About 65,000 railroad passenger cars operated in 1929, from 1920 into the later 20th century, passenger rails popularity diminished and there was a series of pullbacks and tentative recoveries. Rail passenger revenues declined dramatically between 1920 and 1934 because of the rise of the automobile, in the same period, many travelers were lost to interstate bus companies such as Greyhound Lines. However, in the mid-1930s, railroads reignited popular imagination with service improvements and new, diesel-powered streamliners, such as the gleaming silver Pioneer Zephyr and Flying Yankee. Even with the improvements, on a basis, traffic continued to decline. World War II broke the malaise, passenger traffic soared sixfold thanks to troop movements, in 1946, there remained 45 percent fewer passenger trains than in 1929, and the decline quickened despite railroad optimism. Passengers disappeared and so did trains, few trains generated profits, most produced losses. Broad-based passenger rail deficits appeared as early as 1948, and by the mid-1950s, by 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation,85 percent fewer than in 1929. Passenger service was provided on only 75,000 miles of track, the 1960s also saw the end of railway post office revenues, which had helped some of the remaining trains break even. The causes of the decline of rail in the United States were complex. Until 1920, rail was the practical form of intercity transport. By 1930, the companies had constructed, with private funding. In 1916, the amount of track in the United States peaked at 254,251 miles, some rail routes had been built primarily to facilitate the sale of stock in the railroad companies, they were redundant from the beginning. These were the first to be abandoned as the financial positions deteriorated
8.
Northeast Corridor
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The Northeast Corridor is an electrified railway line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through New York City, Philadelphia, the NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and service frequency as of 2013. Branches to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Massachusetts, though not considered part of the Northeast Corridor, the corridor is used by many Amtrak trains, including the high-speed Acela Express, intercity trains, and several long-distance trains. Most of the corridor also has frequent commuter service, operated by the MBTA, Shore Line East, Metro-North Railroad, New Jersey Transit, SEPTA. Several companies run freight trains over sections of the NEC, much of the line is built for speeds higher than the 79 mph allowed on many U. S. tracks. Acela covers the 225 miles between New York and Washington, D. C. in under 3 hours, and the 229 miles between New York and Boston in under 3.5 hours. Under Amtraks $151 billion Northeast Corridor plan, which hopes to roughly halve travel times by 2040, the Northeast Corridor was built by several railroads between the 1830s and 1917. The route was later consolidated under two railroads, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad between Boston and New York, and the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York and Washington, boston-Providence, Boston and Providence Railroad opened 1835, partially realigned in 1847 and in 1899. Became part of the Old Colony Railroad in 1888, providence-Stonington, New York, Providence and Boston Railroad opened 1837, partially realigned 1848. Stonington-New Haven, New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad opened 1852-1889, New Haven-New Rochelle, New York and New Haven Railroad opened 1849. New Rochelle-Port Morris, Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad opened 1873, Port Morris-Sunnyside Yard, New York Connecting Railroad, opened 1917. Sunnyside Yard-Manhattan Transfer, Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad opened 1910, Manhattan Transfer-Trenton, United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company opened 1834-1839,1841, partially realigned 1863 and 1870. Trenton-Frankford Junction, Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad opened 1834, partially realigned 1911, frankford Junction-Zoo Tower, Connecting Railway opened 1867. Zoo Tower-Grays Ferry Bridge, Junction Railroad opened 1863-1866, grays Ferry-Bayview, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad opened 1837-1838,1866,1906. Bayview Yard-Baltimore Union Station, Union Railroad opened 1873, Baltimore Union Station-Landover, Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road opened 1872. Electricity was in use on branch lines of the NYNH&H for interurban streetcars via third rail or trolley wire. The NH announced in 1905 that it would electrify its main line from New York to Stamford, electric locomotives began serving Grand Central on February 13,1907, and all NYC passenger service into Grand Central was electrified on July 1. NH electrification began on July 24 to New Rochelle, August 5 to Port Chester and October 6,1907 the rest of the way to Stamford, steam trains last operated into Grand Central on June 30,1908, after which all NH passenger trains into Manhattan were electrified
9.
Keystone Corridor
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The corridor was originally a rail line itself as it was the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The rail corridor is one of the high-speed corridors designated by the Federal Railroad Administration, since 2006, the track from Lancaster to Parkesburg has permitted trains of up to 110 miles per hour, while the section between Paoli and Philadelphia allows 75 to 90 miles per hour. Amtrak runs two intercity rail services along the Keystone Corridor, the Harrisburg-to-New York City Keystone Service and the Pittsburgh-to-New York City Pennsylvanian, the tracks from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg are owned and maintained by Norfolk Southern, and include the famous Horseshoe Curve west of Altoona. The tracks between Harrisburg and Philadelphia are owned and maintained by Amtrak, and are the part of the Keystone Corridor that is electrified. The tracks join the Northeast Corridor at Zoo Interlocking near the Philadelphia Zoo, the right-of-way that would become the Keystone Corridor was mainly laid by two railroads. The tracks east of Dillerville, just west of Lancaster, were originally the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, from Lancaster west to Harrisburg, the tracks were laid by the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster Railroad. Except for minor realignments, todays Keystone Corridor runs along the same path, both lines eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Railroads main line. In 1915, the PRR electrified the line from Philadelphias Broad Street Station to Paoli, electrification west of Paoli to Harrisburg came in the 1930s, after the PRR completed electrifying its New York-Washington, D. C. section. The total cost of electrification topped $200 million, which was financed by government-supported loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Passenger service remained unprofitable, returned to profitability during World War II, and then slumped again. The PRR overhauled much of the right-of-way in the 1950s, the result was dilapidated stations, slow, disjointed track conditions, and antiquated rolling stock which frequently broke down. In 1968, the PRR merged with the New York Central to become Penn Central, Amtrak took over the express Harrisburg-New York intercity rail service in 1971, while Conrail, under SEPTA auspices, continued Harrisburg-Philadelphia commuter services. In 1983, SEPTA took over all services and truncated operations to Parkesburg. The Keystone Corridor eventually served as a depository for the problem-prone Metroliner electric multiple unit cars, Amtrak also used electric locomotive-hauled trains for Harrisburg-New York service. Due to the slower schedules combined with higher prices and competition from SEPTA. The line between Philadelphia and Lancaster was four tracks until the 1960s, when the PRR removed two of the tracks. The line is now two tracks from Paoli to Harrisburg, save for a section between the Glen and Park interlockings, and a four-track section between the Downs and Thorn interlockings. As of 2004, most of the track was limited to a speed of 70 miles per hour. There are also curves which require slower speeds, and speed restrictions within interlocking limits, in 1999, the Keystone Corridor was formally recognized as a designated high speed corridor by the FRA, as part of the TEA-21 transportation bill
10.
SEPTA Main Line
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The SEPTA Main Line is the section of the SEPTA Regional Rail system from the Zoo Interlocking in West Philadelphia to Lansdale Station in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. The line is 26.25 miles long, and serves all 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines and this is a partial legacy of the former SEPTA route number designations, which had the R1 Glenside designation for trains that turned at the station, paired with the Airport Line. That few trains terminated there and instead continued on to stations farther out was a contributing factor to the elimination of the route designators. As of 2016, most northbound trains on the Main Line continue as Warminster Line, with a handful of exceptions, those that do not terminate at Jenkintown-Wyncote, not Glenside. The Main Line was mostly built by the North Pennsylvania Railroad, however, the oldest section was part of the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, the first railroad in Philadelphia. The first section of it opened on June 7,1832, later a new alignment was built to Norristown, leaving the old route from North Philadelphia to Germantown as a branch, this is now the Manayunk/Norristown Line. The PG&N south of Wayne Junction, the Ninth Street Branch, is now part of the Main Line, the North Pennsylvania Railroad opened south of Gwynedd on July 2,1855, and the continuation to Lansdale opened October 7. The short part of the Main Line from Wayne Junction northeast to north of Newtown Junction was built as a connection to the PG&N at Wayne Junction, on December 1,1870, the Philadelphia and Reading Railway leased the PG&N. The North Penn was leased May 1,1879, placing the future Reading side of the SEPTA Main Line under Reading control, electrification to Glenside, Hatboro, Lansdale, Doylestown and West Trenton was completed on July 26,1931. In 1976 Conrail took over the Reading, and in 1983 SEPTA gained control of the commuter operations, the Center City Commuter Connection was tied into the former Reading main line on November 12,1984, completing the SEPTA Main Line as it is defined today. The term Main Line is also used on the SEPTA Regional Rail system to refer to the Paoli/Thorndale Line
11.
Island platform
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An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on twin-track routes due to pragmatic and cost-effective reasons, an alternative arrangement is to position side platforms on either side of the tracks. The historical use of island platforms depends greatly upon the location, the island platform layout is a popular, cost-effective and practical solution in modern railway systems. Island platforms allow facilities such as escalators, elevators, shops, toilets and this is essential for wheelchair accessible stations. An island platform makes it easier for users and the infirm to change services between tracks. Additionally, an island platform layout eliminates the need to construct a crossover or subway between two platforms, however, island platforms may become overcrowded, especially at busy stations, and this can lead to safety issues such as Clapham Common and Angel on the London Underground. However, for the tracks to diverge around the platform, extra width is required along the right-of-way on each approach to the station. Track centers vary for rail systems throughout the world but are normally 3 to 5 meters, if the island platform is 6 meters wide, the tracks have to slew out by the same distance. While this is not a problem on a new line that is being constructed, in addition, a single island platform makes it quite difficult to have through tracks, which are usually between the local tracks. A common configuration in busy locations on high speed lines is a pair of island platforms, high-speed trains can therefore pass straight through the station, while slow trains pass around the platforms. This arrangement also allows the station to serve as a point where trains can be passed by faster trains. The purpose of this design was to reduce unnecessary passenger congestion at a station with a high volume of passengers. Many of the stations on the Great Central Railway were constructed in this form and this was because the line was planned to connect to a Channel Tunnel. Island platforms are a normal sight on Indian railway stations. Almost all railway stations in India consist of island platforms, in Toronto,29 subway stations use island platforms. A slight disadvantage is that crossovers have to be rather long, in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, PATCO uses island platforms in all of its 13 stations, to facilitate one-person train operation. Most elevated stations in Singapores Mass Rapid Transit system use island platforms, the exception is Dover MRT Station, which uses side platforms as it is built on an existing rail line. The planned Canberra MRT Station will also use side platforms, as it also be built on an existing rail line
12.
SEPTA City Transit Division surface routes
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Some of the bordering municipalities are served by the City Transit division, despite not being part of the city. For example, Cheltenham Township has 13 city division routes and zero of the Suburban Division routes, Transit in Philadelphia started out with several dozen horse car, cable, and traction companies. In 1895, these companies began uniting under three main operations Electric Traction Company, Peoples Traction Company, and Philadelphia Transportation Company, the following year, these three consolidated into the new Union Traction Company. In 1902, Union Traction Company went bankrupt, the company was reorganized under the name of PHILADELPHIA RAPID TRANSIT on July 1,1902, despite efforts by Thomas E. Mitten, PHILADELPHIA RAPID TRANSIT went bankrupt in 1939. The new PHILADELPHIA TRANSPORTATION COMPANY took over its operation on January 1,1940, in the 1950s, National City Lines took over management of the PHILADELPHIA TRANSPORTATION COMPANY on March 1,1955 and began converting streetcar lines to bus routes. SEPTA, created in 1962, bought and took over PHILADELPHIA TRANSPORTATION COMPANY transit operations on September 30,1968, after the purchase of the Red Arrow Lines on January 29,1970, SEPTA designated the city services as its City Transit Division. Route R replaced Route A along Hunting Park Ave, and Roosevelt Blvd, Route A then served Roxborough, Andorra within Philadelphia and Barren Hill in Montgomery County. Route A was eliminated and replaced by bus Routes 9,27, the LUCY routes loop through a circular route in University City, Philadelphia. There are two lines—Green and Gold—both of which travel along the routes, but in opposite directions. ===SEPTA ROUTE69 was discontinued in 1990, it went from Wynnefield to Manayunk via Belmont Hills, ===SEPTA ROUTE A is part of Routes 9,27 &32 ===SEPTA ROUTE B is part of Route 14 ===SEPTA Route C was a line operated primarily upon Broad Street. In FY2010, the route had 4,520,308 annual passengers, and 14,958 average weekday passengers, for a total of $4,211,345 in passenger revenue. The route, with 26 vehicles at peak hours, cost $13,421,916 to operate, yielding a 31% farebox recovery ratio.136,640 On February 19,2012, Route C was split into routes 4 and 16. ===SEPTA ROUTE D is part of Route 21 ===SEPTA ROUTE E is part of Route 65 ===SEPTA ROUTE F was discontinued
13.
SEPTA Suburban Division bus routes
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The Suburban Transit Division is broken down into three divisions. These routes are operated from the Victory Division, located at the 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby Township and this also includes 101 Media,102 Sharon Hill, and Norristown High Speed Line rail operations. These routes were operated by the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company. Routes in the Chester area of Delaware County as well as Chester Pike operations were operated by Southern Penn Bus Lines. Today, Routes 114,117, and 118 are leftovers of the old Southern Penn system, the Philadelphia Transportation Companys PTC Folsom Division bus routes were taken over by Red Arrow Lines on January 20,1961. Since that time the Ex-PTC routes have been eliminated or consolidated into the current route system, SEPTA took over Red Arrow Lines on January 29,1970. This was one of the last privately owned transit operations left in the United States, even today some longtime residents, transit historians, and the local news media still refer to this operation as SEPTAs Red Arrow Division. In 2011 SEPTA renamed 69th Street Terminal to 69th Street Transportation Center and these routes are operated from the Frontier garage in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County. This division of SEPTA was created through a combination of former Schuylkill Valley Line services in the Norristown area, Routes 96 to 99 which helped form the original five SEPTA Frontier Division Routes were once part of the old Schuylkill Valley Lines that SEPTA acquired on March 1,1976. The old Schuylkill Valley Lines routes were restructured into five routes on March 7,1977 with Route 95 being a new route. Routes 127 to 129 were once part of the old Trenton Philadelphia Coach Lines TPC which became a subsidiary of the Philadelphia Transportation Company PTC on January 24,1963, when SEPTA took over PTC, Trenton Philadelphia Coach became a subsidiary of SEPTA. These routes were assigned Routes 150 to 153 in 1980 and these routes continued to operate under SEPTA/TPC until November 14,1983 when SEPTA Frontier Division took over the operations of these routes and rebranded them Routes 127,128, and 129. All other routes have been added onto the system since then, trenton-Philadelphia Coach Lines was brought back to life by SEPTA as a contract operation for its Routes 310 and LUCY operations. Service on these lines are operated by Krapfs Coaches under contract to SEPTA and these routes are operated from Krapfs own garage, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Krapfs has operated bus routes for SEPTA in the past, Routes 202, Route 207, Route 208, Route 306. SEPTA has had bus operations before in Chester County. SEPTA and Reeders Inc. joined forces in 1977 to operate three bus routes out of West Chester and these routes were the Route 120, Route 121, and Route 122. Reeders also operated their own bus route from West Chester to Concord and Tri-State Malls via US202, Transit operations in Chester County has been around for decades operating under different companies over those years
14.
NJ Transit Bus Operations
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Prior to 1948, most public transportation in New Jersey was provided by the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, a utility company that also operated the Public Service Railway division. PSCT provided service throughout New Jersey, originally using trolleys and then transitioning to trolley buses, NJ Transit came into being as the result of the New Jersey Public Transportation Act of 1979 to acquire, operate, and contract for transportation services in the public interest. NJ Transit Bus Operations came into being the year, when it acquired Transport of New Jersey from PSE&G. Other purchases and buyouts in the 1980s expanded the bus division of NJ Transit, in 1992 NJ Transit Mercer, Inc. which was the successor to the former Mercer Metro operation in the Trenton and Princeton areas, was folded into NJ Transit Bus Operations. In 2010, Morris County operations were taken over under the subsidiary NJ Transit Morris, NJ Transit Bus Operations owns, leases, or subleases over 3,000 buses, and many more have been purchased for community shuttles. Fare and route can also be further elucidated on some of the route schedules or the trip planner. 1-99, Intrastate service originating from Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, 100-199, Routes from central and northern New Jersey to New York City. 200-299, No routes with numbers, a few existed in the 1980s to be quickly renumbered. 300-399, Special-event and park services, park-and-ride services, long-distance suburban routes from Philadelphia, 450-499, Local service within Camden, Gloucester, and Salem counties. 500-549, Atlantic County and Cape May County local routes, 550-599, Long-distance routes from Atlantic City serving points in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. 700-799, Passaic and Bergen County local routes not entering Newark, 800-880, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Morris local routes not running to Newark. On July 11,2012, NJ Transit publicly announced that it had finalized plans to service on routes 42,43,75 and 93 effective September 1,2012. Combined with changes to service on routes 56,57,181, go28,451 and 604, NJ Transit also intended to split route 62 into two routes and expand route 99. NJ Transit Bus Operations is divided into the Northern, Central, and Southern Divisions, below is a list of all facilities and the buses housed in them. The Northern Division consists of six garages, the Central Division consists of five garages and one light rail operations facility. The Southern Division consists of four garages and these companies operate service under contract to New Jersey Transit. Service is provided using New Jersey Transit-branded buses, NJ Transit Rail Operations New Jersey Transit official website Unofficial New Jersey Transit fan page Unofficial New Jersey Transit bus map
15.
Megabus (North America)
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On April 10,2006, Stagecoach introduced a no-frills service through its Coach USA subsidiary, using the Megabus brand that it had established in the United Kingdom. Louis, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Louisville, Toledo, Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, on August 8,2007, Megabus introduced service to the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Tempe, Arizona, using Coach America as a contractor. In its first foray into California, ridership was sluggish and Megabus started to discontinue services from the Los Angeles hub in early 2008, Service to the Phoenix area was discontinued in January 2008, followed by services in San Diego and San Ysidro in March 2008. In May 2008, Megabus made the decision to shut down its Los Angeles hub and discontinue all related services, stating that n this case, the final day for services from Los Angeles was June 22,2008. Megabus re-entered the market in 2012 after reacquiring some of the assets of Coach America, further expansions included service to Syracuse, Rochester, Hartford, and Niagara Falls, Ontario. Later in 2009, the Megabus concept was expanded to Toronto and Montreal, Megabus expanded deeper into Pennsylvania and the Southeast in 2009 and 2010. Megabus returned to the West Coast on December 12,2012 initially serving San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Reno, Riverside, on its west coast routes, Megabus operates almost exclusively from either commuter rail stations or transfer stations for local transit buses. A fraction of tickets are priced at 1.00 USD or CAD, Megabus follows the yield management model, typically used by airlines, where the lowest fares are offered to those who book early, so the less popular schedules tend to be less expensive. In order to keep costs down, Megabus has no waiting rooms and no bus terminals and picks up at curbside on public streets, stops may be outside railroad stations or transportation centers in major cities, or on college campuses or at shopping centers in other cities. Tickets must be purchased in advance via the website or by telephone, upon purchase, passengers are given a reservation number which they show the bus operator when they board. In the United States, tickets are not available from the bus operator, in Canada, owing to franchise regulations, tickets are sold at stops at a fixed price. The Megabus fleet can be identified by the megabus. com name on the front and sides in yellow against a base. The DATTCO fleet used for Megabus service is also decaled with Megabus logos, buses on the M25 Megabus route operate with regular Academy Bus livery. In 2007, Coach USA updated its Chicago-based Megabus fleet with new MCI J4500 single-deck and this expansion came as Megabus exited from the West Coast market. The fleet transferred to Eastern Shuttle was eventually returned to mainline Coach USA duty following divestiture a few months later, all Megabus coaches branded as such in the United States are equipped with Wi-Fi and electrical outlets. In accordance with ADA regulations, wheelchair-accessible service is available on all lines and this can now be done online or by phone. The Canadian Megabus fleet consists of 152009 TD925 buses and are operated by Trentway-Wagar, all of the Canada fleet is equipped with electrical outlets and Wi-Fi. The Canadian buses are pooled with the US fleet for NYC-Toronto or Philadelphia-Toronto runs, note that on these runs the buses will typically only have WiFi service available in the home country for the bus being used, i. e
16.
BoltBus
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BoltBus is an intercity bus common carrier that operates low cost, non-stop and limited-stop, premium level routes in the northeast and western United States and British Columbia, Canada. In the northeast, BoltBus provides service from New York City, BoltBus is owned by Greyhound Lines and routes in the northeast are operated in partnership with Peter Pan Bus Lines. On the west coast, BoltBus service is offered in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, routes on the West Coast are owned and operated by Greyhound without a partner. While BoltBus is owned by Greyhound Lines and uses the operating authority. BoltBus competes with other low cost carriers such as Megabus and Chinatown bus carriers, the BoltBus network in the northeast radiates from New York City. Buses depart from three street stops in Manhattan and there are different departure points for different lines, service is currently available between New York City and Bostons South Station Bus Terminal, Washington, D. C. On March 24,2011, BoltBus expanded its service into Newark and it began providing service from Newarks Penn Station to Baltimore, and Washington, D. C. s Union Station. Schedules on this route originate and terminate in Boston and Philadelphia with a stop in Newark. On May 17,2012, BoltBus expanded to the Pacific Northwest, service expanded to Vancouver, British Columbia and Bellingham on May 31,2012 and again on October 3,2013 with limited service to Albany and Eugene. BoltBus expanded into California on October 31,2013 offering service between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, the service originally operated between Los Angeles Union Station, San Joses Diridon Station and the West Oakland BART Station. A stop at San Franciscos Transbay Terminal was added to the route on December 12,2013, a second route between Los Angeless Union Station and San Diego was added on November 14,2013, but was discontinued in January 2014 due to low ridership. BoltBus service was expanded outside of California on December 12,2013 with a route between Los Angeles Union Station and Las Vegas with a stop in Barstow, unlike parent Greyhound, all tickets sold on BoltBus are for reserved seating and buses are not oversold. On each trip, at least one ticket is sold for $1, with most pre-booked tickets priced in the $10–$20 range, BoltBus sells the $1 tickets at random within the first few seats sold. The $1 fare is the basis for its slogan “Bolt for a Buck”, when ticketed, passengers are assigned to a boarding group. Passengers who purchased their tickets earlier get a better boarding group assignment, allowing them to board the bus, passengers who are members of the Bolt Rewards program are always assigned to the A boarding group. Passengers who have special needs are assigned to the S boarding group and are allowed to pre-board before other passengers, BoltBus routes use Prevost X3-45 and MCI D4505 coaches. All motorcoaches are equipped with internet access and leather seats that have armrests, footrests, seat belts, cup holders. The motorcoaches used on BoltBus have 5 fewer seats than the standard, giving passengers additional legroom
17.
Wilmington station (Delaware)
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Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station, also known as Wilmington, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. One of Amtraks busiest stops, it serves nine Amtrak trains and is part of the Northeast Corridor and it also serves SEPTA commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as local and intercity buses. Built in 1907 as Pennsylvania Station, the station was renamed in 2011 for then Vice President, senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. an advocate for passenger rail who routinely took the train from Wilmington to Washington, D. C. Located on Front Street between French and Walnut Streets in downtown Wilmington, the station has one level with stores, a cafe, ticket offices, a car rental office. Passengers board their trains on the train platforms. The station replaced an earlier station erected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and it was built in 1907 for $300,000 by the PW&B successor, the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed by renowned architect Frank Furness, who designed the adjacent Pennsylvania Railroad Building. This unconventional arrangement celebrated the power of the locomotive and America’s industrial strength, the north end of the station has a four-faced rectangular clock tower that rises an extra story above the main roof. It is decorated with stone and terra cotta work that is repeated in plainer form throughout the station, Wilmington Station has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. A renovation project was conducted in 1984, the National Register added the adjacent railroad viaduct in 1999. SEPTA has been running to Wilmington since 1989, in 2009, the station began a two-year restoration, about two-thirds of the $37.7 million in funding came from United States government stimulus funds. During construction, customer operations, including access, were moved to a temporary station next door. The station reopened on December 6,2010, and final work was completed in March 2011, on March 19,2011, the stations name was changed from Wilmington Station to Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Railroad Station. Vice President Joe Biden, who took over 7,000 round trips from the station during his U. S. Senate career and was noted as an advocate for Amtrak and passenger rail more generally. On January 20,2017, within an hour after completing his tenure as Vice President, the station is served by six Amtrak trains along the Northeast Corridor going south to Baltimore and Washington, D. C. and going north to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. It is also served by the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor to Florida, Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach service is provided through the station to Dover and Seaford, Delaware, and Salisbury, Maryland. It is also served by SEPTA Regional Rails Wilmington/Newark Line with service to Philadelphia and Newark, like all stations in Delaware, SEPTA service is provided under contract and funded through DART First State, which also provides extensive local bus service as they have since 1994. DART First State bus routes include 1,2,6,10,11,12,14,16,20,21,22,28,33,35,38,39,40,45,48,54,55,59,301, and 305
18.
Washington Union Station
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Washington Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D. C. Opened in 1907, it is Amtraks headquarters and the railroads second-busiest station with annual ridership of just under 5 million, the station also serves MARC and VRE commuter rail services, the Washington Metro, and buses. At the height of its traffic, during World War II, in 1988, a headhouse wing was added and the original station renovated for use as a shopping mall. Today, Union Station is one of the busiest rail facilities and shopping destinations in the country, when the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad announced in 1901 that they had agreed to build a new union station together, the city had two reasons to celebrate. The decision meant that railroads would soon remove their trackwork and terminals from the National Mall. Though changes there appeared only gradually, the consolidation of the depots allowed the creation of the Mall as it appears today, the Act authorized the Washington Terminal Company to construct a station “monumental in character” that would cost at least $4 million. This cost was financed by $12 million in first mortgage bonds as well as advances by the owners which were repaid by stock, each carrier also received $1.5 million in government funding to compensate them for the costs of eliminating grade crossings in the city. The only railroad station in the nation specifically authorized by Congress, the building was primarily designed by William Pierce Anderson of the Chicago architectural firm of D. H. Burnham & Company. The first B&O train to arrive with passengers was the Pittsburgh Express which did so at 6,50 a. m. on October 27,1907 while the first PRR train arrived three weeks later on November 17, the main building itself was completed in 1908. Of its 32 station tracks,20 enter from the northeast, the suite was converted in December 1941 to a U. S. O. Canteen, which went on to serve 6.5 million service members during World War II, although closed on May 31,1946, it was reopened in 1951 as a U. S. O. Lounge and dedicated by President Harry Truman as a permanent home away from home for traveling U. S. armed service members, on the morning of January 15,1953, the Pennsylvania Railroads Federal, the overnight train from Boston, crashed into the station. When the engineer tried to apply the trainline brakes two miles out of the platforms, he discovered that he only had engine brakes. A switchman on the approach to the station noticed the train and telephoned a warning to the station. Just then, the floor of the terminal, having never designed to carry the weight of a locomotive, gave way. The 447, 000-pound electric locomotive fell into about the center of what is now the food court, remarkably, no one was killed, and passengers in the rear cars thought that they had only had a rough stop. An investigation revealed that an anglecock on the brakeline had been closed, the accident inspired the finale of the 1976 film Silver Streak. The durable design of the GG1 made its damage repairable, and it was back in service after being hauled away in pieces to the PRRs main shops in Altoona
19.
Acela Express
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The route contains segments of high-speed rail, and Acela Express trains are the fastest trainsets in the Americas, they attain 150 mph on 28 miles of the route. Acela trains use tilting technology, which helps control lateral centrifugal forces, over this route, Acela and the Northeast Regional line captured a 75% share of air/train commuters between New York and Washington in 2011, up from 37% in 2000. Due to this competition, one airline canceled service between Washington and New York, on other portions Acela is limited by both traffic and infrastructure. On the 231-mile section from Bostons South Station to New Yorks Penn Station, along this section, Acela has still captured 54% share of the combined train and air market. The entire 457-mile route from Boston to Washington takes 7 hours, Acela carried more than 3.4 million passengers in fiscal year 2015, second only to the slower and cheaper Northeast Regional, which had over 8 million passengers in FY2015. Its 2015 revenue of $585 million was 25% of Amtraks total, the present Acela Express equipment will be replaced by new Avelia Liberty trainsets beginning in 2021, with all current trains to retire by the end of 2022. The new trainsets, manufactured by Alstom, will have 30% higher seating capacity than the current trains, the new fleet will have 28 trains versus the current 20, allowing for hourly New York-Boston service all day and half-hourly New York-Washington service at peak hours. During the 1980s the US Federal Railroad Administration explored the possibilities of high-speed rail in the United States, on December 18,1991, five potential high speed rail corridors were authorized including the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak asked railway equipment manufacturers to submit proposals, an X2000 train was leased from Sweden for test runs from October 1992 to January 1993. It was operated from Washington DC to New York City from February to May, Siemens showed the ICE1 train from Germany, organizing the ICE Train North America Tour which started to operate on the Northeast Corridor on July 3,1993. This testing allowed Amtrak to define a set of specifications that went into a tender in October 1994. On March 9,1999, Amtrak unveiled its plan for a high-speed train, twenty new trains were to run on the Northeast Corridor. Several changes were made to the corridor to make it suitable for the Acela, in October 1994, Amtrak requested bids from train manufacturers for a trainset that could reach 150 miles per hour. A joint project of Bombardier and GEC Alsthom was selected in March 1996, an inaugural VIP run of the Acela came on November 17,2000 followed by the first revenue run on December 11, a few months after the intended date. By 2005, Amtraks share of the market between New York and Boston had reached 40%, from 18% pre-Acela. With the increasing popularity of the faster, modern Acela Express, to meet the demand, more Acela services were added in September 2005. By August 2008 crowding had become noticeable, by 2011, the Acela fleet had reached half of its designed service life. Amtrak proposed several replacement options, including one as part of its A Vision for High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor, in 2011, Amtrak announced that forty new Acela coaches would be ordered in 2012 to increase capacity on existing trainsets
20.
Trenton Transit Center
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Trenton Transit Center, also known as Trenton, is the main passenger train station in Trenton, New Jersey. It is the southernmost stop in New Jersey on the Northeast Corridor, the River Line light rail, which offers service to Camden along the Delaware River, is across the street. Bus service at the station consists of local New Jersey Transit routes, including Capital Connection buses, serving the New Jersey Capitol Complex, in addition, the station serves as the northern terminus for SEPTA buses to Oxford Valley Mall. Greyhound Bus service to the station was available but has been discontinued. Trenton is the city to serve three major railway systems in the state of New Jersey. Behind Secaucus Junction and Newark Penn Station, Trenton is the third-busiest train station in New Jersey, Trenton Transit Center has two levels, the upper level with ticket offices, ticket machines, two snack kiosks, and a McDonalds restaurant. From that level steps lead down to the two platforms for the trains. The eastbound island platform also has a newsstand/snack kiosk, a $56.6 million renovation is currently under way, which will include an addition of a mezzanine level providing additional office and retail space. New lighting, air-conditioning, information displays, escalators, and elevators will also be installed, construction is anticipated to last two years. Across the street is the River Line light rail station that connects to Camden, Rail service in Trenton dates back to the days of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, which built a station on East Street in 1837, until it was moved to the current site in 1863. The C&A was merged into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company in 1867 and acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1893, which replaced the station the same year. As with many Pennsylvania Railroad stations especially in New Jersey, the became a Penn Central station once the New York Central & Pennsylvania Railroads merged in 1968. Amtrak took over intercity service in 1971, but Penn Central continued to serve commuters. In 1976, Penn Central built the new Trenton Rail Station just as the railroad was being acquired by Conrail, by 1983, the station became part of the New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, but also continued to serve Amtrak as well as SEPTA Regional Rail to Philadelphia. Trenton Transit Center links Mercer County and the greater Delaware Valley area, Bucks County and Philadelphia with Camden, Newark, New York City, Boston, the SEPTA Trenton Line continues southwest, providing regional service through to 30th Street Station and Temple University in Philadelphia. Passengers traveling in New Jersey can continue using any of SEPTAs regional rail services from the 30th Street Station hub in and around the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area and in Bucks County. The line is one of two ways in which passengers can reach the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line from New Jersey. The line operates at street level along the Delaware River, connecting Trenton with Camden and municipalities, amtraks Northeast Regional stops regularly in Trenton on its route between Boston South Station in Massachusetts and Washington Union Station in Washington, D. C
21.
South Station
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It is used by thousands of commuter rail and intercity rail passengers daily. Connections to the rapid transit Red Line and Silver Line are made through the adjacent subway station, the station was renamed for former Massachusetts governor Michael S. Dukakis in November 2014, though maps and station signs continue to use the shorter South Station. When the railroads serving Boston were first laid out and built, the Old Colony Railroad had a long passenger terminal on the east side of South Street, stretching from Kneeland Street south to Harvard Street. This site is now part of the South Bay Interchange, near the South Station bus terminal, the Boston and Albany Railroads passenger terminal was in the block bounded by Kneeland Street, Beach Street, Albany Street and Lincoln Street. The Boston Terminal Company, established in 1897, was charged with the task of combining the four terminals into one consolidated terminal, South Station combined the four terminals in one spot. South Station opened as South Central Station on January 1,1899 at a cost of $3.6 million, the architects were Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston, with the actual construction undertaken by the engineering firm of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co. It became the busiest station in the world by 1913, a stop on the Atlantic Avenue Elevated served South Station from 1901 to 1938, what is now the Red Line subway was extended from Park Street to South Station in 1913. The train shed, originally one of the largest in the world, was eliminated in a 1930 renovation due to corrosion caused by the nearby oceans salt air. In the original configuration, two came off each approach to join into a four-track line and then run under the main platforms in a two-track loop. These tracks were never put into service, and later became a parking lot, while the station handled 125,000 passengers each day during World War II, post-war passenger rail traffic declined in the US. In 1959, the Old Colony Railroad, which had served the South Shore and Cape Cod, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad went bankrupt in 1961. South Station was sold to the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 1965, portions of the station were demolished and the land was used to build the Boston South Postal Annex and the Stone and Webster building. The plan was never realized, and South Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, in 1978, the BRA sold what was left of the station to the MBTA, though the BRA retained air rights over the station. Funding was obtained for a renovation of the station that was completed in 1989. A total of 13 tracks became available, all high level platforms. Piers were installed for the construction of an office building. This renovation also added access to the Red Line subway station from inside the surface station lobby, previously. The new bus terminal has direct connections to I-93 and the Massachusetts Turnpike
22.
Vermonter (train)
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The Vermonter is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between St. Albans, New York City, and Washington, D. C. It replaced the overnight Montrealer, which terminated in Montreal until 1995, the Vermonter was preceded by an overnight train between Montreal and Washington that was known as the Montrealer. In the days before Amtrak the Montrealer was a service of the Boston, another train, the Ambassador ran the same route during the daytime, but terminated in New York City. Both services used the Boston and Maines Connecticut River Line south of Vernon, Vermont, the Vermonter replaced the Montrealer on April 1,1995, bringing daytime Amtrak service to Vermont. Business Class was added to replace the cars that were taken out of service upon the change to the Vermonter. The route was changed to allow travelers from Vermont to again stop in Springfield and Hartford. This detour added an hour of running time, but at the time was judged more practical than seeking to use the route over the former Boston. The train travels from Washington to New Haven on the Northeast Corridor, Vermont declined to pay for continuing the Vermonter to Montreal due to high labor and terminal costs in Montreal. For a time Amtrak offered passengers a connecting Thruway bus service, operated by Vermont Transit, ridership plunged when the train schedule was moved two hours earlier, requiring a southbound departure before 5,00 a. m. The schedule was returned to its previous position, but the service was dropped by Vermont Transit on October 30,2005, on October 30,2006, the Vermonter began stopping at the towns of Wallingford and Windsor Locks in Connecticut for the first time in its existence. In the late 2000s, Amtrak and the state of Vermont considered the purchase of multiple unit trainsets for use on the New Haven–St. Albans stretch of the line, with Amtrak offering a $2 million grant to make the switch. The new cars would purportedly have saved $4.25 million over three years, being four times more efficient than a locomotive-hauled train. With no other DMU designs available that were capable of operating in mixed traffic with other trains the plan was dropped, on October 5,2012, the Federal Railroad Administration announced the completion of track work within the states of Vermont and New Hampshire for the above-mentioned stimulus plan. 190 miles of track within the states of Vermont and New Hampshire were refurbished, the track work included installation of continuous welded rail, road-crossing improvements, ballast replacement, tie replacement, bridge repair and renovation, and embankment improvements. The top speed of the line within Vermont was increased to 79 miles per hour, the Massachusetts portion of the track work was ongoing as of 2015. On October 5,2015, the southbound Vermonter derailed in Northfield, five cars and the engine derailed, the engine and an empty car slid down an embankment. Five passengers and two members were injured, one seriously
23.
Chicago Union Station
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Chicago Union Station is a major railroad station that opened in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, replacing an earlier station built in 1881. It is the only remaining intercity rail terminal in Chicago, as well as being the primary terminal for commuter trains. The station stands on the west side of the Chicago River between West Adams Street and West Jackson Boulevard, just outside the Chicago Loop, including approach and storage tracks, it is about nine and a half city blocks in size. Its facilities are underground, buried beneath streets and skyscrapers. Chicago Union Station is the third-busiest rail terminal in the United States, after Grand Central Terminal and it is Amtraks overall fourth-busiest station. It handles approximately 120,000 passengers on a weekday and is one of Chicago’s most iconic structures, reflecting the city’s strong architectural heritage. In addition to standing out architecturally, Union Station has features that reflect its commitment to sustainability, in 2011, its lighting system was replaced with more energy-efficient light bulbs and motion sensors, reducing the station’s carbon footprint by 4 million tons annually. Chicago Union Station was designated as one of America’s “Great Places” in 2012 by the American Planning Association. The “Great Places” program by APA highlights places streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces around America that exhibit “exemplary character, quality, and planning. ”These places are unique in their cultural and historical significance, sense of community, and vision. Other criteria include “architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement. ”Chicago Union Station is considered a “Great Public Space” by APA and these spaces are safe and inviting, well-maintained, and attractive, both visually and in functionality. In addition, local culture and history are reflected within the space, Union Station is laid out with a double stub-end configuration, with 10 tracks coming into the station from the north and 14 from the south. Because passenger trains do not pass through Union Station, all passengers traveling through Chicago must change trains to reach their final destination. There are 2 through tracks to allow out-of-service equipment moves between the north and south side, including one with a platform to allow extra long trains to board, between the north and south sides of the station is a passenger concourse. Passengers can walk through the concourse to get from any platform to any other without stairs or elevators, odd-numbered platforms are on the north half of the station, and even-numbered platforms on the south half. The north tracks are used by Amtrak for the Hiawatha Service and the Empire Builder, and by Metra for the Milwaukee District West, Milwaukee District North, the south tracks are used for all of the other Amtrak and Metra services. Two station management structures, one on side of the terminal, monitor train-to-track assignments. The concourse also has a level between platform and street level, containing a food court featuring local vendors as well as national chains. Located west of Canal Street, Union Stations headhouse occupies a city block
24.
Cardinal (train)
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Charlottesville, Charleston, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Trains depart New York on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and depart Chicago on Tuesdays, Thursdays, the 1, 146-mile trip between the termini of the route takes 26 1⁄2 hours. The Hoosier State provides service on the 196-mile segment of the Cardinal route between Indianapolis and Chicago on the four days of the week when it is not otherwise provided by the Cardinal. During fiscal year 2013, the Cardinal carried 113,103 passengers, the 2012 ridership was a 4. 9% increase over 2011, when the line carried 110,923 passengers, which was up 3. 6% from 107,842 riders in 2010. The Cardinal had a revenue of $7,733,458 in fiscal year 2013, up 2. 6% from a total of $7,536,903 in fiscal year 2012. The 2011 figure was an 11. 3% increase from 2010, the Cardinal is the successor of several previous trains, primarily the New York Central James Whitcomb Riley and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway George Washington. Up until the late 1950s, the Riley would carry the Washingtons sleeper cars between Cincinnati and Chicago, both routes survived until the formation of Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak kept service mostly identical at first, through Washington–Chicago and Newport News–Chicago coaches began operating July 12, and a through sleeping car began September 8. Throughout the 1970s Amtrak would drop the George Washington name and re-route the train off the rapidly deteriorating Penn Central track in Indiana, the Newport News section ended in 1976, replaced by the New York–Newport News Colonial. The James Whitcomb Riley was renamed the Cardinal on October 30,1977, as the Cardinal was the state bird of all six states through which it ran. The Cardinal was eventually extended from Washington, D. C. to New York City in an effort to improve the Cardinals cost recovery ratio, but the entire train was discontinued on September 30,1981. A congressional mandate initiated by Senator Robert C. Byrd resurrected the train on January 8,1982, and followed another new route, via Richmond, Indiana and this arrangement lasted until April 27,1986, when the train was finally moved to its current route via Indianapolis. With the Indianapolis routing, the Cardinal began operating jointly with the Chicago–Indianapolis Hoosier State, the Hoosier State operated to Indianapolis on the days the Cardinal does not. This pattern ceased on October 25,1987, then resumed again on July 19,1998, on December 17,1999, Amtrak extended the Hoosier State to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and renamed the train the Kentucky Cardinal. This new train was a service, on days when the Cardinal operated. Amtrak ultimately discontinued the Kentucky Cardinal on July 4,2003, in the July 2010 issue of Trains magazine, the Cardinal was noted as being one of five routes under consideration for performance improvement. In addition, the routing into Chicago Union Station would be changed, however, obstacles to a daily Cardinal persist. Track capacity is limited on the Buckingham Branch Railroad in Virginia where the Cardinal operates and this problem applies also to the planned but failed Greenbrier Presidential Express train, which would also have traversed the Buckingham Branch on a weekly basis
25.
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
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Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City. Serving more than 600,000 commuter rail and Amtrak passengers a day, Penn Station is in the midtown area of Manhattan, close to Herald Square, the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and the Macys department store. Entirely underground, it sits beneath Madison Square Garden, between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue and between 31st and 34th Streets, Penn Station has 21 tracks fed by seven tunnels. It is at the center of the Northeast Corridor, a rail line that connects New York City with Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D. C. Intercity trains are operated by Amtrak, which owns the station, while rail services are operated by the Long Island Rail Road. Connections are available within the complex to the New York City Subway, additionally, if reopened, the old Hilton Corridor would recreate an indoor connection with Port Authority Trans-Hudson trains. The original Pennsylvania Station was built from 1901-1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, after a decline in passenger usage during the 1950s, the original station was demolished and reconstructed from 1963 to 1969, resulting in the current station. Pennsylvania Station is named for the Pennsylvania Railroad, its builder and original tenant, the current facility is the substantially remodeled underground remnant of a significantly more ornate station building designed by McKim, Mead, and White and completed in 1910. The original Pennsylvania Station was considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style, the station was moved fully underground, beneath the newly constructed Pennsylvania Plaza complex and Madison Square Garden arena completed in 1968. Until the early 20th century, the PRRs rail network terminated on the side of the Hudson River at Exchange Place in Jersey City. Manhattan-bound passengers boarded ferries to cross the Hudson River for the stretch of their journey. The rival New York Central Railroads line ran down Manhattan from the north under Park Avenue, the development of the electric locomotive at the turn of the 20th century made a tunnel feasible. The station would sit in Manhattans Tenderloin district, a historical district known for its corruption and prostitution. Beginning in June 1903, the two single-track North River Tunnels were bored from the west under the Hudson River. Electrification was initially 600 volts DC–third rail, and later changed to 11,000 volts AC–overhead catenary when electrification of PRRs mainline was extended to Washington, D. C. in the early 1930s. The same tube, with an inscription indicating that it had displayed at the Exposition, was later installed under water. Construction was completed on the Hudson River tunnels on October 9,1906, meanwhile, ground was broken for Pennsylvania Station on May 1,1904. Along with Long Island Rail Road trains, Penn Station saw trains of the New Haven and the Lehigh Valley Railroads
26.
Charlotte station (Amtrak)
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Charlotte is an Amtrak station located on North Tryon Street, about 1.5 miles to the northeast of downtown Charlotte. It is the terminus for the Carolinian and Piedmont, as well as an intermediate stop on the Crescent. It is Amtraks third-busiest station in the Southeast United States, just behind Sanford station, the current station was built in 1961 by Southern Railway, as a replacement for the former Southern Railway passenger station located near the intersection of Trade Street and 4th Street in downtown. Southern Railway used the 1961 station as a stop for its passenger trains until 1979, the old Seaboard Air Line Railroad Passenger Station, located on the current CSX Charlotte-Wilmington mainline, is just off Tryon Street a couple of blocks south of the Amtrak station. It is currently being used as a shelter known as the Urban Ministry Center. The current stations exterior incorporates dark brown brick and large, angled concrete panels covered in pebble-dash, interspersed with these heavy, solid elements are transparent walls of glass, which—coupled with clerestory windows beneath the roof—allow ample natural light to flood the waiting room. In keeping with the aesthetics of Mid-Century Modern architecture, the station has minimal applied ornamentation, the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Amtrak expanded the waiting room in 2002 and added an additional ticket window. The proposed Gateway Station in Uptown will serve as a replacement for this facility, Crescent Carolinian Piedmont Amtrak – Stations – Charlotte, NC Charlotte Amtrak Station Charlotte, NC
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Carolinian (train)
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The Carolinian is a daily passenger train that runs between Charlotte, North Carolina and New York City. The train began operation in 1990 and is funded and operated by Amtrak. A previous iteration operated between 1984-1985, onboard services include coach, business class, and a cafe car. The train operates over the Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington, D. C, intermediate stops in North Carolina include Rocky Mount, Wilson, Selma, Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Burlington, Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury, and Kannapolis. During fiscal year 2013, the Carolinian carried over 317,550 passengers, a 3. 6% increase over FY2012, the line had a total revenue of $19,841,847 during FY2013, an increase of 6. 4% over FY2012. This route is notable because it allows walk-up checked bicycle transportation at its station stops in North Carolina, Amtrak first introduced the Carolinian on October 28,1984, in partnership with the state of North Carolina. From Raleigh, The Carolinian ran north on the old Seaboard Railroad to Collier Yard south of Petersburg, Va, the Carolinian and the Silver Star stopped at the former Seaboard station in Raleigh. Both trains stopped at Henderson, NC as well, the train began running the same route as the modern Carolinian from Charlotte to Richmond, Virginia, where it combined with the Palmetto for the journey to New York. North Carolina supported the Carolinian with a $436,000 yearly subsidy and it was the first direct Raleigh—Charlotte service in 30 years and the first North Carolina-specific service in 20 years. An early alternative name for the service was the Piedmont Palmetto, Amtrak discontinued the Carolinian on September 3,1985, after North Carolina declined to renew its support for another year. Although ridership was higher than projected, revenues were not, most passengers traveled within North Carolina, supporters of the Carolinian blamed Amtrak and the state for not marketing the train properly. Amtrak and North Carolina re-launched the Carolinian on May 12,1990, although this time the Carolinian joined the Palmetto in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, south of Richmond. In April 1991 Amtrak stopped combining the Carolinian with the Palmetto, in 1995, the Carolinian was joined with a sister train, the Piedmont, which runs on the same route of this train between Raleigh and Charlotte. Until 2004, the Carolinian also had a stop at BWI Marshall Airport Rail Station, in 2017, NCDOT began considering an extension of the Carolinian to New Haven, Connecticut. The extension would reduce or eliminate the need for NCDOT to fund the train, on March 9,2015, a north bound Carolinian collided with a tractor-trailer that was stuck on the tracks in Halifax County, North Carolina, with 55 people injured. The Carolinian typically operates with a Viewliner baggage car, an Amfleet business class car, an Amfleet cafe, motive power is provided by a GE P42DC diesel locomotive south of Washington, D. C. Service between Washington and New York is handled by an electric locomotive, maximum seating in such a configuration is 346, split between business class and reserved coach. Amtrak - Piedmont and Carolinian NCDOT Rail Division
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New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal
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New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is an intermodal facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Located at 1001 Loyola Avenue, it is served by Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, the station is the major southern terminus hub for Amtrak, serving three trains. Amtrak also operates a coach and engine yard near the terminal and it is the second-busiest Amtrak station in the Southeast United States after the Sanford, Florida, station. The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal was built just west of the older New Orleans Union Station to consolidate passenger rail operations from the railroad stations. Parts of the property also are over what once was the turning basin for the New Basin Canal. The main lead track to the terminal follows the path of the old canal, NOUPT was designed in 1949 by the New Orleans architectural firms of Wogan and Bernard, Jules K. de la Vergne, and August Perez and Associates. When it opened in 1954, it was considered an ultramodern facility, the stub-end terminal consists of covered platforms and a modern waiting hall. A 120-foot long mural of Louisiana and New Orleans history, painted by Conrad A. Albrizio with the assistance of James Fisher, was restored after 2005s Hurricane Katrina, the freight and express houses are now the domain of the New Orleans Arena and Main Post Office. In the 1970s, parts of two platforms were shortened to allow for Greyhound Lines to build an intercity bus terminal, sharing the terminal with Amtrak, following Hurricane Katrina, Amtrak provided the first commercial transportation out of New Orleans. During the recovery efforts, NOUPT was briefly used as a jail, Megabus started operations at the Union Passenger Terminal in 2015
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Crescent (train)
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The Crescent is a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the eastern part of the United States. It operates 1,377 miles daily between Pennsylvania Station in New York City and New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, Louisiana, most of the route of the Crescent is on the Norfolk Southern Railway. The Crescent passes through more states, including the District of Columbia, than any other Amtrak route. During fiscal year 2011, the Crescent carried more than 300,000 passengers, up 1. 8% from the previous year, the Southern Express and the Southern Mail operated over these routes on an advertised time of 57 hours and 40 minutes, including a change at Atlanta. On January 4,1891, the R&D launched the Washington & Southwestern Vestibuled Limited, the brochure announcing the train hailed it as a service second to none in completeness and elegance of detail. Providing all the latest and best facilities for the comfort and enjoyment of its patrons, the Vestibule — so nicknamed because it was the Souths first all-year train with vestibuled equipment — lived up to its billing. Drawing-room and stateroom sleeping cars, dining cars, smoking and library cars and they were gas-lighted throughout and equipped with hot and cold running water. Soon the Washington-to-Atlanta routing expanded via the West Point Route from Atlanta to Montgomery, New York City was brought into the schedule via a connection in Washington with the Pennsylvania Railroads Congressional Limited. Scheduled time for the New York-to-New Orleans run was advertised as a 40-hour, because of the popularity of this service, the Vestibule became a solid train of walk-through cars between New York and New Orleans. It also carried the first dining cars to operate between two cities. After the R&D was succeeded by the Southern Railway in 1894, the train was called the Washington & Southwestern Limited southbound, in 1906, the train was renamed the New York & New Orleans Limited and equipped with club cars and observation cars. The train is referred to in the popular 1920’s railroad ballad Wreck of the Old 97, which describes the doomed train No.97 as “not 38. ”Number “38” was the operating number of the northbound New York & New Orleans Limited. No.97 had operated over the tracks as No.38 between Washington, D. C. and Atlanta, and over the same trestle where No.97 wrecked in 1903. The original songwriter was a Southern Railway employee, who knew which train was No.38. The idea never came to fruition, but from 1993 to 2005, according to railroad historian Mike Schafer, By 1925, the train was re-equipped and renamed the Crescent Limited, a true all-Pullman extra-fare train. By 1938 the name became simply the Crescent and it was dieselized in 1941 and streamlined in 1949. The Crescent also carried the through sleepers of the Washington-Sunset Route in conjunction with the Southern Pacific west of New Orleans to Los Angeles. The Crescent Limited was powered after World War II by General Motors EMD E-8 locomotives and FP-7 cab and booster units, the 1954 schedule for the 1,355 miles from Atlanta to New York was 32 hours,55 minutes
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Savannah station (Amtrak)
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Savannah station is an Amtrak train station in Savannah, Georgia. The station was built in 1962 to replace the older Savannah Union Station, located at 2611 Seaboard Coastline Drive, the station consists of a terminal building on the east side of the north-south tracks, with a platform between the tracks. The agreement provides for all tenant roads and/or successor carriers, use of the facility and this would apply to carrier trains, like CSX inspection trains, occasional GrandLuxe tour trains, and even infrequent visits by the Sam Shortline Specials from Vidalia and Cordele. Savannah station is an example of Modernist architecture, with the station being constructed during the height of racial segregation, there were two sets of restrooms - one for white and another for colored. In 2014, the set of restrooms closest to the tracks were renovated to accommodate ADA requirements, the existing restrooms cannot accommodate wheelchairs. It is the terminus of the Palmetto route and is along the Silver Star. North of Savannah, the Palmetto and Silver Meteor route diverges from the Silver Star line not converging again until Selma, unlike Savannah Union Station, this station does not require back-up moves, saving some operational time at the expense of having fewer tracks accessible to passengers. The terminal offers ticketing, checked baggage, Amtrak Express shipping and it also contains a pedestrian tunnel thats marked as a subway. Amtrak – Stations – Savannah, GA Savannah Amtrak Station Sam Shortline Special Trains Antebellum South GrandLuxe Rail Journey Savannah --Great American Stations
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Palmetto (train)
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The Palmetto is a shorter version of the Silver Meteor, which continues south to Miami, Florida. Between 1996 and 2002 this service was called the Silver Palm, although currently a day train, in the past the Palmetto provided overnight sleeper service to Florida. During fiscal year 2011, the Palmetto carried nearly 200,000 passengers, the train had a total revenue of $16,438,480 during FY2011, a 7% increase over FY2010. Amtrak introduced the Palmetto on June 15,1976, the train drew its name from the Sabal palmetto, the state tree of South Carolina. The name Palmetto Limited had also used by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad for a New York—St. Petersburg train which first ran in December 1909, the Palmetto was the first train in the Southern United States to receive the then-new Amfleet equipment, and the 828-mile run was the longest at the time for the new coaches. At the time of introduction Amtrak planned to run the Palmetto daily for the summer only, in August Amtrak extended the Palmetto indefinitely, citing better-than-expected ridership. In October 1976 the Florida Department of Transportation urged Amtrak to extend the Palmetto south to Miami, between October 1984 and September 1985 the Palmetto ran combined with the Carolinian between New York and Richmond, Virginia. At Richmond the Carolinian continued separately to Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, the Carolinian was discontinued after the state of North Carolina withdrew its support for the train. The Carolinian has since restored and runs from Charlotte to New York Penn Station. In December 1988 Amtrak extended the Palmetto south to Jacksonville, Florida, the train continued to be coach-only, without full dining service. Beginning on May 12,1990, the Palmetto again combined with a revived Carolinian, although this time the split occurred in Rocky Mount, the two trains began running independently in April 1991. In October 1994 the Palmetto became an overnight train with sleeper and dining car service, running through to Tampa. This replaced the Silver Meteors Tampa section and this extension was short-lived, budget cuts under the Clinton administration led to the Palmettos discontinuance on February 1,1995. Amtrak revived a third train from New York to Miami on November 10,1996, although named the Silver Palm, it used the same route as the former Palmetto and carried the same numbers. At Tampa, it reversed and ran south to Miami, Amtrak restored the Palmetto name on May 1,2002, after it removed the sleepers and dining car from the train, although it continued serving Florida. On November 1,2004, Amtrak truncated the Palmetto to Savannah, Georgia, operating a daytime schedule to and from New York. In the January 2011 issue of Trains magazine, this route was listed as one of five routes to be looked at by Amtrak in FY2011 as the five routes were examined in FY2010
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Paoli station
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Paoli Station is a passenger rail station located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia at 13 Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, Pennsylvania. It is served by Amtraks Keystone Service and Pennsylvanian trains, the station has ticket offices, a waiting room and a coffee shop. The one-story tan brick building was constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1953 at a cost of $140,000 and this station is 19.9 track miles from Philadelphias Suburban Station. In 2011, an average of 1,240 people boarded and 1,408 alighted SEPTA trains each weekday, the Paoli Intermodal Transportation Center Project involves the relocation and expansion of the Paoli Station to a new site near the existing facility. Construction for the $36 million station commenced in February 2017, the proposed light rail Greenline would connect Paoli Station with the towns of Phoenixville and Oaks, Pennsylvania
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Union Station (Pittsburgh)
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Union Station is a historic train station at Grant Street and Liberty Avenue, south of the Allegheny River, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It was one of several rail stations that served Pittsburgh during the 20th century. Unlike many union stations built in the U. S. Thus, Union Station is a misnomer, the station building was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham and built 1898–1904. The materials were a grayish-brown terra cotta that looked like brownstone, at street level the rotunda sheltered turning spaces for carriages beneath wide low vaulted spaces that owed little to any historicist style. Above, the rotunda sheltered passengers in a waiting room. Burnhams firm completed more than a dozen projects in Pittsburgh, some on quite prominent sites, the rotunda is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Service began at the station on October 12,1901, on January 3,1954 the Pennsylvania Railroad announced a $32.2 million in expansion and renovation for the complex. By the late 1970s the Penn Central Corporation was accepting bids for the complex and was purchased by the US General Services Administration, there were proposals in 1978 to make the structure into a federal office building, a new city hall and a senior citizens apartment building. Amtrak proposed that the structure remain a train station and rail offices. In 1974 County Council proposed having the station be the site of the then planned David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the Buncher Development Company had an option to buy the property as late as 1984. A $20 million restoration of Union Station began in 1986 to convert the tower into apartments. It is now called The Pennsylvanian and opened to residents on May 23,1988, the concourse, which is no longer open to the public, was transformed into a lobby for commercial spaces on the ground floor and the paint cleaned off the great central skylight. In September 1978, The New Yorker art critic Brendan Gill proclaimed that Pittsburghs Penn Station is one of the pieces of Beaux-Arts architecture in America. Union Station continues to serve as a railway station. It is the terminus of Amtraks Pennsylvanian route and is along the Capitol Limited route. Until 2005, Pittsburgh was served by a daily train, the Three Rivers. Its cancellation marked the first time in Pittsburghs railway history that the city was served by just two passenger trains. Union Stations Amtrak station code is PGH, the Port Authority opened a spur to Penn Park station in 1988, to link the 1985 downtown subway to the East Busway
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Pennsylvanian (train)
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The Pennsylvanian is a 444-mile daytime Amtrak train running between New York and Pittsburgh via Philadelphia. The trains travel across the Appalachian Mountains, through Pennsylvanias capital Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania Dutch Country, suburban and central Philadelphia, trains run once daily in each direction and utilize Amfleet equipment. The entire train ride takes about 9 hours total, with 1.5 hours between New York and Philadelphia,2 hours between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, and 5.5 hours between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvanian is a once a day replacement of the Keystone service between New York and Harrisburg, offering Business Class seating as an upgrade to the seating on Keystone trains. Prior to Amtrak, the route was known as the Duquesne, named after Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvanian began on April 27,1980, as a state-supported daylight train between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with connecting service to New York. The train was extended to New York in 1983, between November 1998 and January 2003, Amtrak shifted the endpoints west to Chicago and Philadelphia, providing daylight service to Cleveland, Ohio. In 2003 the Pennsylvanian reverted to the Pittsburgh—New York schedule, the Pennsylvanian is the replacement of the former Keystone service between New York and Pittsburgh. Prior to Amtrak, the route was known as the Duquesne, named after Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh, the Duquesne had a long history, finally becoming a daily New York—Pittsburgh train on October 25,1959, numbered 16 eastbound and 25 westbound. With the start of Amtrak operations on May 1,1971, the Keystone was discontinued on April 30,1972. The immediate impetus for the Pennsylvanian was the discontinuance of the National Limited, at the time the Pennsylvanian was inaugurated, the Broadway Limited was departing Pittsburgh at an inconvenient early morning hour. The new train ran with Amfleet equipment, including a cafe car, Pennsylvania agreed to pay 20% of the trains costs for the first year, or $580,000, with the state and Amtrak eventually splitting the costs 50/50 by the third year. Between 1981 and 1983, Pennsylvanian equipment was turned every night to operate a second state-supported train, the Fort Pitt, Amtrak withdrew this train in early 1983 after the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation declined to continue subsidizing the increased operation. At the time the Fort Pitt carried 30 passengers per day, on October 30,1983, the Pennsylvanian was extended to New York City, eliminating the transfer at Philadelphia. After significant ridership gains in 1984, PennDOT proposed that a train be added to the route. PennDOT and Amtrak would have split the costs evenly, Amtrak officials were favorable, but budget problems stalled the plan. In the late 1980s passenger-rail groups urged Amtrak to extend the Pennsylvanian to Cleveland, proposals included new stations in Sewickley and Beaver Falls. Pressure increased in 1989 when Amtrak announced the re-routing of the Broadway Limited, as part of this change, the Capitol Limited began serving the Cleveland—Pittsburgh route, albeit in the middle of the night. Amtrak and PennDOT considered two routes for an extended Pennsylvanian, one via Alliance, Ohio and one via Youngstown, Ohio with a new stop in New Castle, Pennsylvania
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Silver Meteor
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The Silver Meteor is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Miami, Florida. The first diesel-powered streamliner between New York and Florida, since being introduced by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1939, the train is part of Amtraks Silver Service along with the Silver Star, another former SAL streamliner. The SAL introduced the Silver Meteor on February 2,1939, the name was selected via contest, with 30 people among 76,000 entrants proposing the winning name. It was the first diesel-powered streamliner to Florida, and its introduction prompted competitor Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to introduce the Champion in December 1939, the train used seven new cars manufactured by the Budd Company. The original schedule took 25 hours, the train ran between New York, NY, and Washington, DC on the Pennsylvania Railroad under a haulage agreement. Between Washington and Richmond it used the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, jointly owned by the SAL, from Richmond south SALs own track was used via Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida and Ocala, Florida. Until the late 1960s the Silver Meteor split at Wildwood, Florida, with one continuing to Miami, Florida. The SAL merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1967, the Silver Meteor lost its west coast section and began serving Miami only. Amtrak retained the train when it took over most intercity trains on May 1,1971. From December 17,1971 to April 15,1972 and September 10,1972 to April 27,1973, between June 11 and September 10,1972 the Silver Meteor was extended to Boston and called the Meteor. Service to St. Petersburg returned with the splitting at Auburndale. On September 30,1979 the Silver Meteor was rerouted between Savannah and Jacksonville over the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad route, due to the abandonment of the old SAL route. On January 31,1984 the Silver Meteors Florida west coast terminus was cut back from St. Petersburg to Tampa, ending almost 100 years of rail passenger service to St. Petersburg. By October 26,1986 the Silver Meteor had shifted to the old ACL route north of Savannah, as the abandonment of the SAL route north of Raleigh affected only the Silver Star. On June 11,1988 the tracks between Coleman and Auburndale, Florida were abandoned, then removed to create the General James A. Van Fleet State Trail, by the end of 1988 train numbers were 87 and 88 and 97 and 98. The Tampa trips were later dropped and 97 and 98 are still used, the best timing for Amtraks Silver Meteor between Miami and New York City was 27 hours in 2008, SALs first edition took 25 hours in 1939. Late trains often add more hours to todays schedules, in the January 2011 issue of Trains Magazine this route was listed as one of five routes to be looked at by Amtrak in FY2011 as the previous five routes were examined in FY2010. The Silver Meteors route covers 1,389 miles between New York City and Miami, Florida, the train originates at New Yorks Pennsylvania Station and travels south to Washington, D. C. via Amtraks Northeast Corridor
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Silver Star (Amtrak train)
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The Silver Star shares much of its track with the Silver Meteor, which runs further east through North Carolina and South Carolina. During fiscal year 2011, the Silver Star carried nearly 425,000 passengers, during FY2011, the train had a total revenue of $32,963,894, a 10. 6% increase from FY2010. The Star was originally a service of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, running from New York to Miami and it was inaugurated December 12,1947, to replace the Advance Silver Meteor. In the January 2011 issue of Trains magazine, this route was listed as one of five routes to be looked at by Amtrak in FY2011 as the five routes were examined in FY2010. Like Amtraks other long-distance routes that operate to and from New York, Amtrak is restricted to its single-level Amfleet, in addition, while electric locomotives are used between Washington and New York, trains switch to diesel locomotives traveling south of Washington. In the movie Carlitos Way, Al Pacinos character is killed just before boarding the Silver Star, Amtrak - Silver Service / Palmetto
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Ardmore station (Pennsylvania)
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Ardmore station is a train station in Ardmore, Pennsylvania served by Amtrak and SEPTA Regional Rail. It is on Amtraks Keystone Corridor Main Line and serves most Keystone Service trains and it is located at Station Road and Anderson Avenue in Ardmore and serves the western suburbs of Philadelphia. The station is a brick building with a flat roof built in the 1950s. There are plans to build a new transit-oriented development in the area, the ticket office and waiting room at this station are open weekdays 6,10 a. m. to 5,00 p. m. excluding holidays. An Amtrak QuikTrak machine is available when the station is open, SEPTA permit parking is available at the station, and the township provides additional metered parking in nearby lots. This station is 8.5 track miles from Suburban Station, in 2011, the average total weekday SEPTA boardings at this station was 841 and the average total weekday SEPTA alightings was 834. Nearby attractions include the Suburban Square shopping center, Ardmore Farmers Market, Brownies 23 East, despite his proximity to the station, however, Saunders preferred to travel to his Philadelphia office by chauffeur-driven private car rather than riding his own trains. His detractors used this as an indication of both the conditions of the train cars and managements detachment from the riding public. Lower Merion Township has considered plans to replace the station as part of an economic revitalization transit oriented development project for the neighborhood. Parts of the plan, however, relied on using eminent domain to force the purchase of private property, for this reason, it met significant opposition among some members of community. In August,2010, the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program of the State of Pennsylvania made a $9 million grant to the following an earlier $6 million grant made in 2008. The old station at Ardmore was designed by the firm of Wilson Brothers, the walls were built of gneiss stone laid irregularly with sandstone lintels. It had a basement by virtue of the land sloping to the rear, which served as housing for the agent, containing a bedroom, dining room, kitchen. The second story had three bedrooms and the signal tower, media related to Ardmore at Wikimedia Commons Amtrak – Stations – Ardmore, PA SEPTA – Ardmore Station Ardmore Amtrak & SEPTA Station Ardmore, PA
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Harrisburg Transportation Center
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The Harrisburg Transportation Center is a large railway station and transportation hub in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is located on the edge of Downtown Harrisburg between the intersections of Aberdeen and Market Streets and 4th and Chestnut Streets. The well-situated station is the hub for passenger rail and intercity bus services in the Harrisburg metropolitan area. The current station is the third on the site, though technically a union station, it was never identified as such in publications such as the Official Guide of the Railroads and Steam Navigation Lines or Pennsylvania Railroad Timetables. The first two stations were shared by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading Railroad, Northern Central Railway, the third station excluded the Reading Railroad, which built its own station in 1856, and the CVR maintained a small depot adjoining the much larger NCR/PRR station. The CVR station was razed sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, the Reading Railroad discontinued passenger service into Harrisburg in the 1950s and its station was torn down in the early 1960s to make room for a new post office. The current station was built by PRR in 1887 and significantly rebuilt with its distinctive barn roof in 1905 following a fire in 1904. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, the station is one of the few railway stations in the United States that still has a train shed above the tracks. The building, which is owned by Amtrak and managed and operated by the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority and it also contains a moderately large meeting room called the Pennsylvania Room that can be used for meetings and other large gatherings. Passenger facilities are limited, but the station does have a newsstand on the first floor that sells newspapers, magazines, food. It also has food and beverage vending machines in the intercity bus terminal portion of the building on the basement floor. Non-retail facilities include small lockers on the basement floor for short-term personal storage, one of the stations tracks features a Pennsylvania RR GG1 locomotive on display, which can be viewed by the passengers waiting on the adjoining platforms. The station is within a walking distance of most jobs. Most Dauphin County and Harrisburg city offices are located to the southwest of the HTC near the intersection of 2nd and Market Streets, Harrisburg University of Science and Technologys new academic building is located at the corner of Fourth and Market streets, one block southwest of the station. Another performance theater, Forum Place, is located about 1.5 blocks north of the Transportation Center, finally, most of the bars and upscale restaurants in downtown Harrisburg are less than a half-mile west of the station, along 2nd Street. Amtrak provides service to the station via the Keystone Service and Pennsylvanian routes, the Harrisburg Transportation Center is the western terminus of Amtraks Keystone Service, which provides the bulk of the Amtrak service to and from Harrisburg. Primary cities served on Amtrak to and from Harrisburg include Lancaster, Philadelphia, and New York to the east and Altoona, Johnstown, both staffed and Quik-Trak machine ticket service are available for all departures and red cap service is also available. In Federal Fiscal Year 2008, it was the 2nd busiest Amtrak station in Pennsylvania and it ranks slightly ahead of the Lancaster Station in both categories
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Keystone Service
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Most trains continue along the Northeast Corridor to Pennsylvania Station in New York. It is Amtraks fifth-busiest route, and the railroads third-busiest in the NEC, in fiscal year 2013, the service carried 1.47 million passengers, an increase of 3. 2% over FY2012. Total revenue in FY2013 was $29,366,992, an increase of 7. 5% over FY2012, when the Metroliner high-speed program had begun two years earlier, the state had attempted to capitalize on the opportunity to purchase upgraded rolling stock for the 600-series trains. On August 30,1966, Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania announced plans to purchase 11 Metroliners for 80 mph service to replace the Silverliners then used, the cars were ordered through Philadelphia commuter agency SEPTA, as the state was not permitted to contract directly with the PRR. The PRR soon withdrew after complaints from competing Red Arrow Lines and Capitol Trailways, in June 1968, an agreement was reached where the state Transportation Assistance Authority would pay $2 million and Penn Central would pay $2.5 million for the 11 Metroliners for Harrisburg service. On July 14, a 4-car train was tested on the line, on February 25,1970, the cars intended for Harrisburg service completed their performance testing. Penn Central refused to accept the cars, citing technical issues with the cars. They had worse acceleration than the Silverliners already in service, tended to overheat when making numerous closely spaced stops, additionally, the corridor lacked high-level platforms to effectively use the cars, and 15 substations would require expensive modifications. The 11 cars were unused for some time before Penn Central ultimately decided to lease the cars for use on the core New York - Washington service and they were moved back to the Budd plant for modifications in April. In July 1970, the state authorized $100,000 to upgrade existing Silverliners for the Harrisburg service instead, when Amtrak was created to take over intercity passenger rail service in 1971, there was substantial debate about whether some trains constituted intercity services or commuter services. On March 31,1971, Penn Central filed with ICC to discontinue the 600-series trains at the conclusion of their contract with SEPTA on June 30, the state filed suit against Penn Central on April 7 to stop the discontinuance. On April 23, Penn Central filed in District Court to discontinue the regional services, five days later, the state and the UTU filed an opposing suit, calling the trains a commuter service. On April 30, Judge John P. Fullam ordered Penn Central to continue operating the trains, when Amtrak took over intercity service on May 1,1971, the 600-series trains continued to be operated by Penn Central, though they were listed in Amtrak schedules. The city of Philadelphia and the state both preferred to have Penn Central rather than Amtrak operate the service, as Amtrak was exempt from state control. On June 21, the ICC ruled that the service was not intercity rail, as sought by the state, on August 3, Fullam ordered Penn Central to continue operating the regional services. On October 29,1972, after negotiations with Penn Central, Amtrak took over operation of the 600-series trains as Silverliner Service. Amtrak assumed formal responsibility for the Silverliner Service and Clockers around April 1974, Penn Central continued to operate Paoli-Philadelphia commuter service. Amtrak took over ticketing for the Silverliner Service and Clockers from Penn Central on July 1,1975, on October 26,1975, SEPTA funded an increase from 9 to 11 daily round trips
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North Philadelphia station
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The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authoritys Regional Rail Trenton Line and Chestnut Hill West Line account for most of the stations service, five Amtrak trains also stop each weekday. The station opened in the 1870s and was known as New York Junction, a new station, which ushered in the Beaux-Arts style for large train stations, was built from 1896 to 1901. After a 1912–1915 enlargement, it was renamed as North Philadelphia, despite several other renovations, its use declined in the mid and late 20th century, in 1991, Amtrak constructed a smaller replacement station across the tracks. The building was renovated once more in 1999 and is now used as commercial space and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year. Most SEPTA Trenton Line trains and five daily Amtrak trains stop at these platforms, two low-level platforms, a short distance to the west, serve the diverging SEPTA-owned Chestnut Hill West Line. North Philadelphia has been a stop on the line since 1993. The station has relatively low inbound boardings, however, it is used by riders from the Chestnut Hill West Line transferring to SEPTA and Amtrak trains to reach jobs in New Jersey and New York. The station is within a few blocks of the North Broad station on SEPTAs Main Line, the Pennsylvania Railroad built the Connecting Railway in 1867 to connect its main line to the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad. By the early 1870s, New York Junction station was established where the Connecting Railway crossed over the Philadelphia, a signal tower, still extant, was constructed around this time. By the early 1880s, the PRR station was known as Germantown Junction, Germantown Junction station was a two-story Queen Anne style building located between the diverging lines, its large gables acted as shelters for passengers. By the mid 1890s, the station was frequently overcrowded and North Philadelphia, the completion of the Delair Bridge in 1896 allowed passengers to ride trains directly to the summer resorts of southern New Jersey further increased traffic on the line. Roberts, president of the railroad, used his connections to hire Theophilus Parsons Chandler. The new station was constructed on a freight yard on the south side of the tracks. The site also provided connections for passengers using newly electrified streetcars on Glenwood Avenue. Foundation construction began in May 1896, however, work was stopped when Roberts took ill in August, he died the next January. The Panic of 1896 led Roberts successor, Frank Thomson, not to continue work, when Thomson died in 1899, Alexander Cassatt was recalled to the PRR to serve as president. Work resumed in 1900 with a floor plan, and the new station was complete in April 1901. As constructed, the facade of the station faced Glenwood Avenue
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Norfolk station (Amtrak)
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Norfolk station is a train station in Norfolk, Virginia. It is the terminus of a branch of Amtraks Northeast Regional service which begins in Boston, service began on December 12,2012. This station returned intercity passenger service to Norfolk proper for the first time since 1977 when the Mountaineer ended. The $3.75 million brick and glass depot, financed by the city and it was designed by architects and engineers with the Michael Baker Corporation and includes a three story tower. Prior to the completion, passengers only used the concrete platform. The station is adjacent to the Harbor Park baseball stadium along the Elizabeth River on the edge of downtown. The Tide light rail system has an adjacent station at Harbor Park, allowing for connections from Amtrak to the light rail service
1.9% (Amtrak)
