Lancaster, PA Station Construction

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Oreius

OBS Chief
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
698
I was riding the Keystone to Philadelphia this morning. I noticed they’re tearing up the trackway around one of the platforms of the Lancaster station. Any idea what’s going on? Are they preparing for more service on the Keystone line?
 
From the Amtrak Service Asset document, this is the work that is in progress at Lancaster PA station and its vicinity:

Fitter Interlocking

Planning and field preparation continued in preparation for construction in FY 2022, with FRA approving the network configuration change and Amtrak’s Lancaster, PA shop manufacturing the central instrument houses. The project will break a 15-mile block, thereby increasing operational track availability, reliability, OTP, and customer satisfaction.
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flitcraft said:
Is there any problem for passengers coming or going from Lancaster? We are headed that way in March and returning from that station late April.
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From my experience yesterday, only the middle cars can disembark at Lancaster coming from Philadelphia at this time. Not sure if this will be the case in April. Going TO Philadelphia, I didn’t notice any issues. But, I’ll be riding to Philadelphia again March 2 (tomorrow) so I can double check.
 
flitcraft said:
Is there any problem for passengers coming or going from Lancaster? We are headed that way in March and returning from that station late April.
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No problems. Just listen to your train crew’s announcements on where to detrain and you’ll be just fine.
Oreius said:
From my experience yesterday, only the middle cars can disembark at Lancaster coming FROM Philadelphia at this time. Not sure if this will be the case in April. Going TO Philadelphia, I didn’t notice any issues. But, I’ll be riding to Philadelphia again March 2 (tomorrow) so I can double check.
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Every crew works it differently. Some crews will use the middle three cars, some the last three cars, some the first three cars.
 
Acela150 said:
Shockingly this is not the reason why.

The State condemned the platforms at Lancaster and is handling the construction of the new platforms.
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Coming to think of it, that platform was already half closed when the AU Gathering team showed up at Lancaster last year. I guess the open part has shrunk further as the work progresses.
 
The station track layout has shrunk considerably from how it was as late as the 1960s when there were still through tracks for freight trains.
The Duquesne to Pittsburg stopping at Lancaster around 1968. A few minutes before I took this shot, a freight headed by 2 E-44s roared through the station, unfortunately I did not get a shot of that.
duquesne1.jpg
 
Acela150 said:
There isn’t a platform on Track one right now in LNC. It’s been completely demolished.
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You’re right. I sat on the right side of #660 this morning and the platform was gone. Everyone boarded at the last three cars. I was in the second car from the front.
 

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