King of Prussia Rail Project: Does It Indeed Punch the Ticket to Success?

By

trolleys
Image via Alan Fisher at YouTube.
Proponents of the King of Prussia Rail Project cite its use of existing infrastructure from the 1907 Philadelphia & Western Railroad, which became the Norristown High Speed Line.

The King of Prussia Rail Project continues to gather steam among political and business leaders. But as Alex Davis points out in Billy Penn, not all transit experts are stoked about some of the plan’s particulars.

The $2.08 billion plan will connect the Norristown High-Speed Line to commercial entities to its southwest.

The King of Prussia Business Improvement District (among others) embraced the idea’s advantages, including its connection of out-of-area shoppers and employees to in-area stores and jobs without congesting already crowded roadways.

Critics, however, are beginning to have their say. They include Alan Fisher, aka The Walking Urbanist. He opines regularly online about issues regarding urban planning, transit and sustainability.

Fisher and those who agree with him see the budget revisions over time — which SEPTA has explained as related to inflation and the route’s geology — as indicative of future financial overruns. Detractors also find the topography concerns evidence of a “flawed” decision-making process in mapping the connection.

He has called the rail line the “…worst transit project in America.”

SEPTA has responded saying that because the line will leverage infrastructure already in place (the tracks from Norristown to Upper Darby), its costs can be mitigated while benefits are multiplied.

More on the varying opinions of the King of Prussia Rail Project are at Billy Penn.

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