Specter pushes for $25M for new regional rail line

The plan for a MetroRail line between Philadelphia and Reading may be an expensive project -- at a proposed cost of $2.5 billion -- but state officials believe the line is an absolute necessity.

Local commissions and state politicians are working together to look for new sources of funding for the line, which has been in discussion for more than a decade.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), one of the biggest supporters of the plan, recently proposed $25 million in federal funds for the Schuylkill Valley Metro and has already gathered $49 million in grants for the project, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The rail line is expected to revitalize the communities through which it runs, create new jobs and connect employers to employees from a rider area, according to Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.).

Gerlach and Gov. Ed Rendell have formed a task force in order to reassess the plan and lower the costs for the construction of the line.

The task force will "look at alternatives to bring the cost of projects significantly down," Gerlach said, and will "make the project leaner and meaner."

The group includes Gerlach, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Specter and the Office of the Governor, according to Rendell spokesman Abe Amoros.

"The governor is interested in the project," Amoros said, but "there are many steps to be taken to make the project more feasible."

Official consideration for the rail line began more than five years ago when the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority drafted a feasibility study that considered who possible riders would be and what kind of services the line would need to provide.

The study came up with the cost of $2.5 billion for the plan, which is "much too costly," according to Gerlach, and "would not be something that's accomplishable."

SEPTA is already faced with "one of the greatest financial crises in the history of SEPTA," SEPTA General Manager Faye Moore said in a press release. With such huge budget problems, SEPTA would not be able to offer much support to the project.

According to Amoros, the project was rated as "not recommended" by the Federal Transit Administration. Nevertheless, by reshaping the project's proposal, the task force hopes to garner more support and federal funding.

The task force will also try to gauge state and local support of the project proposal without raising funds at the expense of the taxpayers.

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