Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnIII
I remember when I was a kid there was the Diamond line; it went south of Wilmington but its no longer used. One time we ended up farther then where we wanted to be and had to turn back so we could get back to Churchman's Crossing.
I was thinking it they modernized the Diamond Line they could probably extend commuter or regional rail service right down the Delmarva Peninsula; I should drive down there; the tracks may be still there. If I remember right it ran south of the Northeast Corridor; all we have to do is modernize the rail bed I'm thinking.
All I can tell you is that the metro line was called the Blue Diamond Line; it ran from Wilmington south to Seaford, Delaware; but I can't remember what it cost to ride it back then or if it stopped in Seaford, Delaware or kept going south. If the tracks or rail bed is still there it may be an option.
I also heard that before my time there was a coastal passage line that when to places like Delaware City or something like that but I don't remember about that; some of my cousins are in their 80's and 90's and they talked about that.
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A commuter line is a good idea into Philly from areas south of Middletown, as you said the commute along I95 is a nightmare..... though it would only serve as a logical commuter alternative into/out of philly and into/out of philly alone, luckily DE doesn't deal with the same traffic nightmares that PA along I95 Chester and into Philly does at rush hour (anyone who has driven this knows what a disaster it is to get into the city at those times) In Delaware it is still much quicker to drive from one section to another, Wilmington is arguably the worst and even that is a walk in the park compared to commuting into Philly.
One thing that would be a huge improvement would be the speed which the trains travel at. If you're ever on I495, you always out pace SEPTA trains while driving, and AMTRAK (not even ACELA) blows by them constantly.
Think about it, Middletown DE is 59 miles to downtown Philly. If you could travel at 120 miles an hour (like Amtrak trains are designed to do, despite us lacking the proper infrastructure for them to maintain those speeds outside a few stretches of the NE Corridor) an express line could arrive in under 45 minutes to center city.
Newark DE station has tracks which connect to Middletown, though they'd likely require expensive improvement. In fact, if you go exploring on google maps, there are tracks in place which connect the beach area in Sussex County all the way to Philly..... again though, you would have to make trains move much faster to incentivize people to take transit rather than drive.