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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. ==History== (詳細は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. Since its termination in 1981, the population shifted from Philadelphia itself out to the suburbs, with some residents commuting over 60 miles from Reading and its suburbs to Philadelphia on a daily basis. Although the completion of bypasses for U.S. Highway 422, U.S. Highway 202, and Interstate 76 allows travelers to reach Philadelphia without a traffic-control device, the increased number of automobiles has placed a strain on these three highways. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, under former Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker, along with U.S. Congressman Jim Gerlach of the state's 6th Congressional district, have placed pressure on the federal government to give funding for the new SVM project. No concrete plans have been approved. In August 2006, Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell announced that funding for the SVM project would not be forthcoming and that it should be considered dead.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Metro project gets lukewarm support )〕 In December 2007, Montgomery County authorized an unsuccessful study that looked at possible new funding sources.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Community log: Transportation study )〕 Congressman Jim Gerlach announced in April 2011 that the results from that Montgomery County study would be soon published.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Congressman meets with borough officials )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schuylkill Valley Metro」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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