Sorry to everyone still waiting on Part III of the Pittsburgh Trilogy, but I’m currently fighting off Mutant Death Plague, on liquids and bedrest, and not very good at writing or analytical thinking. Meanwhile, there’s too much news today to let it all go past without mentioning. Inga Saffron, the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Architecture Critic and …
Monthly Archives: April 2014
The iron road to the Steel City: Keystone West
Part 2 of a 3 part series. So, the question I posed yesterday was, “How can intercity rail help fix the mess that is travel between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia today?” The key to implementing any program of improvement to the Keystone West line (the term of art for trains that continue west of Harrisburg), will …
Continue reading “The iron road to the Steel City: Keystone West”
Two cities separated by a common everything: Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
Part 1 of a 3 part series. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh would probably be inextricably linked together even if history hadn’t lumped them together into the same state. As it stands, though, we have a lot more than an ugly blue flag and a bunch of corrupted mountebanks in Harrisburg in common. Both cities fell hard …
Continue reading “Two cities separated by a common everything: Pittsburgh and Philadelphia”
Strike Watch remains in effect, but resolution may be close
Shortly after my update on the state of play went up last night, TWU 234 president Willie Brown came out of the negotiation session saying that a deal for a short-term, two-year contract was “close”. Talks are scheduled to resume this morning at 11:00. In terms of an actual contract deal, I’m taking an “I’ll …
Continue reading “Strike Watch remains in effect, but resolution may be close”
STRIKE WATCH: SEPTA City and Suburban Transit
Conditions are favorable for the development of negotiation breakdown capable of producing a strike. If deadlock has either produced a strike or radar has indicated intense walkout activity, then a Strike Warning will be issued. With City Transit Division contracts expired, and Suburban Transit Division contracts expiring Monday, this blog rates the probability of a …
Continue reading “STRIKE WATCH: SEPTA City and Suburban Transit”
Philadelphia needs driverless subways
Tying a few recent threads together, there have been a lot of jokes on the internet in the wake of the recent derailment of a CTA Blue Line train at O’Hare Airport station in Chicago. But of course, as Eric Jaffe pointed out in The Atlantic Cities, we have the luxury of laughing because the …
Sic Transit Philadelphia 