The ''Fort Pitt'' was a 117-mile (188 km) daily passenger train operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

between

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

and

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 Census, making it the eighteenth most populous city in Pennsylvania. T ...

. The ''Fort Pitt'' was a so-called train, meaning that its operation was subsidized by the 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 ''Fort Pitt'' operated in tandem with the '' Pennsylvanian'', then a Pittsburgh—Philadelphia service. The westbound ''Pennsylvanian'', after arriving in Pittsburgh in the evening, would be turned around and east to Altoona. The following morning, that trainset returned to Pittsburgh as a westbound ''Fort Pitt'', then ran eastbound to

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. Since ...

(Pennsylvania) as a ''Pennsylvanian''. This allowed Amtrak and the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

(PennDOT) to operate two routes with the same two equipment sets. A typical consist was three to four Amfleet coaches pulled by an

EMD F40PH The EMD F40PH is a four-axle B-B diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division in several variants from 1975 to 1992. Intended for use on Amtrak's short-haul passenger routes, it became the backbone of Amtrak's ...

locomotive. Amtrak added

Pitcairn The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four i ...

as a stop in mid-1981 to supplement the Pittsburgh—Greensburg ''

Parkway Limited The ''Parkway Limited'' was a short-lived commuter train operated by Conrail (under contract to PennDOT) between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1981. The train was created in response to construction work on the se ...

'' commuter train. The ''Fort Pitt'' began operation April 26, 1981, and was withdrawn on January 30, 1983, when PennDOT declined to continue funding the train. On average, the ''Fort Pitt'' carried 30 passengers daily, set against a subsidy of $547,453.

References

External links

1982 timetable
{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania Railway services introduced in 1981 Railway services discontinued in 1983