PGH PHL Train Notes
MoTuWeThFrSaSu 10:00a 5:45p #40 7h45; often very late
NOTE: All trains run through to Penn Station New York (NYP).
PHL PGH Train Notes
MoTuWeThFrSaSu 3:00p 10:09p #41 7h09; Originates at NYP
Westbound, both #43/#45 and #41 are very rarely more than an hour late, and often arrive early (the westbound schedule is padded between Greensburg and Pittsburgh, allowing even delayed trains to be "on time" at PGH). Recently, #41 has been doing better than #43/#45, but it's scheduled to take 7h40 rather than 7h15/7h30 so this isn't surprising.
Regular coach seating on the Pennsy varies widely. There may be "high-density" (i.e. no legroom) coaches with orange or red seats. There may be low-density coaches with green seats and (IIRC) no curtains. There may be low-density coaches with blue seats and curtains (sometimes with TVs in the overhead storage, but thankfully these appear to serve no purpose). Blue coaches are indistinguishable from Northeast Corridor business class.
The take-home -- rather, take-to-the-train -- message is to prefer green or blue and avoid red. When boarding at PHL, you will have to walk along most of the train (unless you're in the business class car at the end) -- take notice of the seat color, since in most cases you will be allowed to sit anywhere (except in the last car, of course). I haven't noticed any perceptible "no one goes there anymore, it's too crowded" effect -- even when the boarding door is right between a red coach and a blue coach, most people have no idea that there's a difference; it's not totally obvious, when you're in the vestibule, that the seats in the red car are much closer together. So you really should try to go for blue/green.
The question arises of why anyone would pay the extra $18.00 each way for a business class seat that is no more comfortable than blue/green coach. In fact, in mid-week when there are fewer people, you can almost always get two blue/green seats to yourself, and since there are no seat dividers you can stretch out diagonally. Apart from the inconsequential (to me) free bad newspaper and free beverage, the essential reason to ride business class is simply that the average disturbance level is lower, despite the noise and smell of the cafe; you're much less likely to get obnoxious people in close proximity. On the other hand, if there aren't many passengers, you may be able to have 3 or 4 entire rows of seats to yourself in unreserved blue/green coach, which is more pleasant than business class under any circumstances. In short, if you're traveling at a busy time, can afford to drop $18 each way, or are just so stressed out by your life that you wouldn't be able to handle having some whiny child (or someone who acts like one) right behind you, business class is the lesser evil; otherwise, save your money and buy coach.
Besides, with unreserved coach you're not committed to a particular date of travel.
As of recently, smoking is completely banned on #42/#43/#44/#45. However, expect some reeking people around Harrisburg, the only designated smoking stop.
In early 2003 Amtrak began serving full dinner (as opposed to the usual sandwich/junk food/beverage service, which they still have, of course) on #41. I haven't ridden #40 recently, so I have no idea if they've started doing the same on that train. On both occasions in my experience, dinner was something involving chicken and pasta, and cost $9. I did not partake, so I cannot provide additional information. Of course, if you spring for a sleeper, dinner is free.
As with #42/#43/#44/#45, smoking is now banned on #40/#41, a nice change from the "designated smoking times" in the lounge car. People will smoke on the platform at Harrisburg, though.
H305 1 passenger: 25% off adult fare
Transit connections at PGH: EBA: rapid service to Shadyside, 100: rapid service to Oakland, 61A B C, also 71ACD, 67ACEFJ, local service to Oakland, etc.; subway (use Steel Plaza station). With the Port Authority's odious service cuts, the 71A is now the bus of last resort on Sunday nights:
After 2:30am, the next bus is the 61C at 4:46am.(ObPATSucks: PAT Sucks!)
Transit connections at PHL to Center City: In station, ride Regional Rail trains as shown on the TV marked "Next Trains to Center City"; free with Amtrak ticket or ticket receipt (not that it matters; conductors never collect fares between 30th Street and Center City). Alternatively, follow signs and cross intersection to trolley/subway station; subway (Market-Frankford Line) runs until shortly after midnight (then bustituted), Subway-Surface Trolleys run 24 hours a day. Purchase tokens in subway station ($2.60 for 2 tokens). The cash fare (sucker fare) is $2.00; avoid it. You should check SEPTA's website to see if any detours, bustitutions, or other evil influences are in effect.
If you are trying to get to 30th Street Station on a weekend, the most reliably fast trip is by trolley or MFL. Even when construction is over, you don't want to take Regional Rail unless you've checked the schedules first, since there are gaps of 30 minutes or more.
(Yeah, I don't update this often. The main reason is that I've been taking Amtrak instead. Another reason is that it seems like every time I turn around, USAir has cut service.)
CMU PIT PHL Flt# Days Notes
---- 6:00a 7:08a ---- mtwrfsu ** NO 28X CONNECTION **
5:00a 5:47a mtwrfsu
6:30a 7:39a 1880 mtwrf ** 47-min 28X CONNECTION ** Eff 09/09/02-10/04/02
5:20a 6:07a mtwrf
5:30a 6:17a su
5:40a 6:29a mtwrf
6:00a 6:49a mtwrfsu
7:45a 9:04a 78 mtwrfsu Dis After 10/04/02
#28X from 9:00a to 7:00p: Every 20 minutes
# 28X @ CMU :00, :20, :40 mtwrfsu
# 55-63 minutes
9:05a 10:15a 1084 mtwrf u Dis After 10/04/02
9:05a 10:15a 1071 s Eff 09/14/02
11:30a 12:48p 1161 su
11:30a 12:48p 246 mtwrf Eff 09/09/02-10/04/02
1:30p 2:41p 546 mtwrfsu
2:10p 3:22p 130, mtwrfsu
:10p :22p 1088, . .
2:10p 3:22p 674. . .
3:55p 5:18p 88 mtwrfsu
4:35p 5:48p 786 mtwrfsu
5:45p 7:05p 1119 mtwrfsu
9:05p 10:19p 240 mtwrfsu
** Following flight deprecated due to poor R1 connection **
8:30p 9:17p su
8:40p 9:28p mtwrf
9:00p 9:48p mtwrfsu
10:45p 11:57p 854 mtwrfsu Last R1-Airport @ 12:09a!
R1-Airport 12:09a R1 mtwrfsu
SEPTA bus 12:26a #37 mtwrf arr Broad & Snyder 12:52a;
BSL owls @ 12:54a, 1:09a
SEPTA bus 1:41a #37 mtwrf arr Broad & Snyder 2:07a;
BSL owls @ 2:10a, 2:25a
SEPTA bus 12:20a #37 su* arr Broad & Snyder 12:48;
BSL owls @ 12:54a, 1:09a
SEPTA bus 1:14a #37 su* arr Broad & Snyder 1:42a;
BSL owls @ 1:55a, 2:10a
Deprecated (use #37 & BSL):
SEPTA bus 12:28a #305 mtwrf arr Darby Loop 12:53a;
#11 trolley @ 1:05a
SEPTA bus 12:30a #108 mtwrf arr 69th St 1:10a;
MFL owls @ 1:17a, 1:32a +23
SEPTA bus 1:25a #108 mtwrf arr 69th St 2:05a;
MFL owls @ 2:17a, 2:32a
* Sunday #37's run 1-2 mins later than shown.PHL PIT Flt# Days Notes 6:00a 7:06a 241 mtwrfs Eff 09/09/02; R1* 4:30a - 4:53a 7:05a 8:16a 433 mtwrfsu R1* 5:30a - 5:53a 9:30a 10:40a 607 mtwrfsu R1* 7:30a (or 8:00a) - 7:53a (or 8:23a) 12:20p 1:28p 536 mtwrfsu 3:40p 4:53p 1419 mtwrfsu 4:15p 5:29p 967 mtwrf u Dis After 10/04/02 5:35p 6:49p 873 mtwrfsu 6:50p 8:08p 1169 mtwrfsu 8:00p 9:25p 949 mtwrfsu 10:00p 11:13p 1487 mtwrfsu R1* 8:30p - 8:53p 28X 11:23p mtwrf 28X 11:13p su 28X 12:08a mtwrfsu* R1 times for Center City ("Suburban Station") - Airport Terminal E
Transit connections at PHL:
Regional Rail: R1-Airport to University City / 30th St
Station / Center City:
MTWRF,
Sat,
Sun;
$5.50
[First R1 train arrives airport ~4:52a;
Last R1 train
leaves terminals ~12:09a]
Note that the R1-Airport is likely to be cut. I haven't heard anything about replacement bus service (having taken the Rail Power Project shuttle bus, that wouldn't be such a terrible thing, especially since it might cost less than $5.50), so we may end up stuck with having to take a bus and transfer to BSL, MFL, or trolley.
As of January 2003, US Airways flies between TTN and PIT (formerly the only flights out of TTN were to Bedford, MA). See the US Airways timetable for details.
Transit access to the airport, which is west of Trenton in West Trenton/Ewing, seems to be limited. The official airport page mentions only taxi service (fare "approximately $12.00") between TTN and the Trenton train station. Well, fine, if you don't mind the cab you can take the SEPTA R7 (or Amtrak if you like wasting money) to Philly, but cabs are abominable.
NJ Transit has at least one bus, the 607, that goes by the airport. While the official airport freaks "naturally" assume everyone will either take a cab or drive via the I-95 hellway, I infer from the parking page (parking is free, but of course taxis and buses are not, because we need to massively subsidize the most wasteful form of transportation) that there is an entrance on Bear Tavern Rd, which -- unless it is some kind of sickening zero-clearance six-lane hellway -- should be accessible. (Has anyone looked into a class-action ADA suit against (almost) every jurisdiction in the US, for building non-pedestrian- (hence non-wheelchair-) accessible facilities?)
The 607 is infrequent (30-60 minutes weekdays, 90 minutes weekends).
I mention this for the sake of completeness. PIT-EWR seems to usually be more expensive than PIT-PHL. However, if you want to go to Philadelphia via EWR, it is quite straightforward to take the EWR Airtrain, the NJ Transit NEC Line and the SEPTA R7. Amtrak is a faster, but much more expensive, substitute for the NJT NEC and R7 (also, only some Amtrak trains stop at EWR; if you wanted to compromise and only waste a fair bit of money, you could take NJT to Trenton and Amtrak from there).