Schuylkill Valley Metro
| Schuylkill Valley Metro | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Tram-train |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Locale | Pennsylvania |
| Termini |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Glenloch, Pennsylvania |
| Stations | 20 |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Norfolk Southern Railway |
| Operator(s) | SEPTA |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 62 miles (100 kilometres) |
| Number of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
The Schuylkill Valley Metro (SVM) was a proposal for a 62-mile railway system that would link Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the city of Reading, Pennsylvania in central Berks County, using the SEPTA Manayunk/Norristown Line and Cynwyd Line, plus two Norfolk Southern Railway freight-only lines. The proposal was rejected by the Federal Transit Administration; there are no plans to move forward with the project.
The Schuylkill Valley Metro (SVM) has its roots in the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown railroad in the early 19th century, which later became the Reading Company. The line served as a long-distance passenger and freight line between Philadelphia, Reading, and Harrisburg, nearly paralleling the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad — later incorporated as the main east-west line of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR).
Prior to 1976, the SVM line, which was electrified between Reading Terminal and Norristown in 1933, ran parallel to the PRR's Schuylkill Branch (which was also electrified to Norristown, in 1930 as part of the PRR's main electrification project), which connected Philadelphia, via the East-West Mainline, with Reading and Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The City of Philadelphia and suburban counties began providing public funds under contract with PRR and RDG for continuation and improvement of regional rail service. Because the Reading's Norristown line was considered the stronger of the two, PRR service was cut back to Manayunk in 1960.
Conrail assumed operations in April 1976, resulting in all freight activity shifting to the SVM line. Commuter service on the former PRR line was extended from Manayunk to Ivy Ridge in order to serve a new park-and-ride lot, but was curtailed in 1986 to the Cynwyd station in Lower Merion Township. SVM service to Reading, which used electric multiple-unit cars between Reading Terminal and Norristown, and diesel-electric "push-pull" cars from Norristown to Reading, continued in operation until SEPTA ceased funding in 1981, two years prior to taking over all of the electrified Philadelphia area commuter rail service.
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