Middletown station is an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

on the

Keystone Corridor The Keystone Corridor is a 349-mile (562 km) railroad corridor between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that consists of two rail lines: Amtrak and SEPTA's Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg main line, which hosts SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale ...

in Middletown,

Dauphin County Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

state of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The station is served by Amtrak's ''

Keystone Service Amtrak's ''Keystone Service'' provides frequent regional rail, regional passenger train service between the Harrisburg Transportation Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, running along the Philadelphia to ...

'' between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

. The former low-level station was built in 1990, but a relocated station with a high-level platform opened on January 10, 2022.

Services and facilities

The Middletown station is located at 270 West Emaus Street. In addition to being used by residents of Middletown, the station is also popular with commuters heading to

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

who utilize its free parking. It sees twenty-three arrivals by the ''Keystone Service'' on weekdays, thirteen from both Harrisburg and

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main inter-city rail, intercity railroad station in New York City and the List of busiest railway stations in North America, busiest transportation facilit ...

, and seven from each on weekends. The station is east of Harrisburg, west of

30th Street Station 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

in Philadelphia, and from New York. In

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2018, the station saw a ridership of 68,022 passengers, a decrease of 0.2 percent from the previous year. The station consists of a high-level center platform with a covering and seating, with a bridge over the tracks providing access to the platform. As the Middletown station is unstaffed, all tickets from the station need to be pre-paid, or purchased from a conductor on board the train. Capital Area Transit's Route 7

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

passes near the station on its route between Middletown,

Harrisburg International Airport Harrisburg International Airport is a public airport in Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Middletown, Pennsylvania, nine miles (15 km) southeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. It is owned by the Susquehanna Area Regional ...

, and

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Harrisburg.

History

A railroad was first laid through Middletown in 1836 by the

Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster Railroad The Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy & Lancaster Rail-Road (HPMtJ&L) was an early American railroad built to connect three main population centers in east-central Pennsylvania. History In 1834, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania chartered the Port ...

, which was taken over by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

in 1850. Only a bare platform was available until brick station was built in 1902. It was demolished in the 1970s. Prior to the introduction of the ''Keystone Service'' in 1981, Middletown was served by the '' Big Apple'', the '' Silverliner Service'', and the '' Keystone''. A shelter and concrete platform was built in 1990 by Amtrak. From 1991 to 1995, the '' Atlantic City Express'' served the station on weekends.

Relocation

The Middletown station was in need of being relocated because it was on a superelevated curve and did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as well. It was moved from its previous location at Union and Mill streets to a location at Ann Street and Pennsylvania Route 230, between the former station and

. Initial plans called for the station to be moved next to the airport terminal, but this was rejected in favor of keeping the station in the downtown area. By 2013, it was expected to be completed by 2015 and estimated to cost $32 million. Funding would be provided by the Federal Transit Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). , bidding for site clearing was expected to take place in mid-2016, with the new station opening in 2018. The work includes pedestrian bridges to the platform and over Route 230, and an extension of West Emaus Street to Route 230. By early 2018, the projected opening was delayed to 2022 due to delays with Norfolk Southern and Amtrak relocating their tracks. Despite an August 2021 projection, the station opened on January 10, 2022. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on January 18, 2022, with federal, state, and local officials along with Amtrak and PennDOT personnel in attendance.

References

External links

Planning page for replacement station
{{PRR Main Line stations Amtrak stations in Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Railway stations in the United States opened in 1990 1990 establishments in Pennsylvania Stations on the Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations