Imagine riding your bicycle to a regional rail stop. After a short wait, a sleek, self-propelled, articulated railcar arrives. Its double doors open, and you board. While locking your bike to the on-board rack, the railcar glides towards your destination.
For quite a few American cities, this is a reality—a transportation connectivity in an urban core featuring light rail or streetcar service that encourages intermodal transfer by pedestrians, bicyclists and autos. The national trend towards building and/or expanding rail transit coincides with a current demographic shift back to urban living. Harrisburg should take advantage of that movement by building a rail transit line, thereby improving the region’s attractiveness to present and future residents.
Downtown streetcar service, for example, was a major factor in the selection process for the Republican Party’s 2016 National Convention site. The GOP dropped from consideration Columbus, Ohio, which has no passenger rail service of any kind. Both Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kansas City, Mo., which are building new streetcar lines, put in vigorous bids. But the winner was Cleveland, which has both light rail and a metro line. By the way, ArcelorMittal’s plant in Steelton supplied rails for Kansas City.
There are four cities in Pennsylvania that currently provide rail transit: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Scranton (seasonal). Harrisburg should be next on the list. Crisscrossing rail lines built by former Pennsylvania and Reading railroads intersect major trip generation points. Railroad roadbeds are wide enough to accept additional trackage for commuter purposes so as not to interfere with current operators’ (Norfolk Southern and Amtrak) daily turns.
This writer is cognizant that rail transit has been the subject of study at various times since 1979, but policymakers were reluctant to “break new ground.” This was understandable as studies recommended expansive civil works with huge costs to match.
Most cities that have implemented rail transit have started small, adding on as systems gained popularity. Tucson, Ariz., and Charlotte, N.C., began their light rail systems with small, vintage trolley operations. CapMetro, Austin, Texas’ single-line diesel railcar operation, is planning expansion. Harrisburg, with Capital Area Transit as the operator, can and should follow those examples with a modest construct. A viable first line, covering major ridership points, might be as follows:
West Shore Transfer Center (West Shore Plaza), 3rd & Hummel (Lemoyne), City Island Parking Garage (accessible by the CAT-owned trans-Susquehanna bridge), PinnacleHealth, Amtrak Transportation Center, State Government Complex (7th & Herr streets), Pennsylvania Farm Show and Harrisburg Area Community College.
On May 2, I attended a day–long conference at Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s headquarters in Philadelphia. Speakers and panelists described how rail transit can and does improve the quality of urban life. Research cited at the conference stated that millennials (young adults) and the elderly are gravitating to cities for the convenience of proximity to jobs and access to walkways, bike lanes, bike tracks and transit. Many young people are postponing the rite of passage of buying cars after college.
Quality of life is critical to the vibrancy of conurbation. Harrisburg needs this vitality in order to attract people who right now really want to live in an urban setting.
Establishing a regional rail system, even the starter line described, will require significant capital funding. Federal and state sources are first options, but there are creative financing packages that are available to augment conventional government grants. Options include CMAQ grants (Congestion Mitigation Air Quality), Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts funding, state and county funding matches, and private participation through development rights.
Oregon successfully used the latter by leveraging development rights along Portland’s light rail downtown-to-airport line to contractor Bechtel Corp. Private foundations have also contributed to rail transit projects. Both Cincinnati and Detroit, for example, are foundation grantees for their downtown rail lines.
Capital outlay for any transportation project may seem daunting. However, rail transit earns its keep by delivering the following benefits:
- Construction and operation will return to the community at a ratio of $4.25 (wages, taxes and purchases) for each dollar invested (i.e. $100 million paid out would ripple through the local economy at $425 million; source: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- In energy savings, a rail car can move more people per BTU than any other transport mode.
- A rail line takes up less land than a highway; therefore, more land can go on the tax rolls, which, in turn, broadens the region’s property tax base.
- A rail line provides a transport redundancy for emergency management, which can be critical for disaster relief. Plus, motive power is a handy source for emergency electricity. One 3,000-horsepower, diesel-electric locomotive can power up 1,000 homes.
- Best of all, research by Dena Belzer of Strategic Economics, Berkeley, Calif., cites that improved health outcomes accrue to regular users of rail transit.
Let’s get Harrisburg into the big leagues of Cincinnati, Kansas City and Austin. But to get from imagination to actuality, policymakers must champion the cause. I hope they do because rail transit would deliver a major economic and lifestyle boost for Harrisburg.
Sloan Auchincloss is a principal of the Auchincloss Family Fund.
