Published Date:
23-Jul-2011
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The projects are designed to increase the speed of trains and reduce travel times along the heavily traveled Keystone Corridor, which runs between Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City.

The money will be used to build parallel connecting roads to eliminate the rail crossing at Irishtown Road, Leacock Township. That work is scheduled to begin in January at a cost of about $2.8 million. Completion is scheduled for October 2012.

Also planned is a new bridge to carry Eby Chiques Road over the rail line at the border of Mount Joy and Rapho townships. Construction is scheduled to begin in March at a total cost of $13.2 million. Completion is scheduled for August 2012.

The third project entails closing the Newcomer Road crossing at the Mount Joy/Rapho border and building cul-de-sacs on both ends of the road.

That work is scheduled to begin in March at a total cost of $485,000. Completion is scheduled for December 2013.

Once the crossings are eliminated, maximum train speeds on the corridor will be increased from the current 110 mph to 125 mph, reducing travel times. Trains also will no longer need to slow down at the crossings.

Since train speeds were increased to 110 mph in 2006, ridership along the corridor has grown by more than 37 percent, to 1.2 million in 2010, according to the Railist news service.