KOP Rail had a very hard life. Growing up, it has always been the victim of bullying from transit advocates, being called names like “an exemplar of bad planning” and “the worst rail project in the US”. KOP Rail was never felt like it could measure up to its rail extension peers, like the Maryland Purple Line or the Boston Green Line Extension. While those extensions would have only cost their agencies around $70,000 per rider, KOP Rail’s much higher cost of over $333,000 per rider always made it feel like a burden.
Even in its home community, KOP Rail never quite fit in. The emotionally insecure rail extension had to go through seemingly endless modifications that doubled construction costs, just to receive a bare minimum of acceptance from Upper Merion Residents.
But KOP Rail was resilient enough not to let the insults get in the way of it reaching its full potential. After all, the extension was raised by a loving coalition of property developers, contractors and businesses. When KOP Rail was coming under fire for its high costs, Jerry Sweeney (who was extra-hard at work being both the CEO of Brandywine Realty Trust and the President of the KOP Rail Coalition) bravely leapt to its defense. In 2019, he took out an Inquirer op-ed justifying the necessity of the rail extension, despite its rising costs. The coalition always remembered to remind KOP Rail of the $900 million of property values it would generate for local commercial real-estate holders, especially for the 10 office buildings Brandywine owned near two stations along the proposed KOP Rail route.
KOP Rail is survived by SEPTA and DVRPC. Both public agencies took every opportunity they could to show the project an outpouring of unconditional love. In 2021, SEPTA graciously applied for the Federal Capital Investment Grants Program on KOP Rail’s behalf, despite having no idea where the over $1 billion required local match, would come from. Despite this, SEPTA and DVRPC never lost hope that love would prevail in the end to get KOP Rail built. In 2021, SEPTA generously diverted $40 million of federal pandemic relief funds (that were designed to pay worker salaries) to pay planning firms to benefit KOP Rail. And just last month, SEPTA approved spending $390 million of its Capital Budget to further support KOP Rail.
Sadly, even the love KOP Rail received from local developers, contractors, and businesses wasn’t enough to save them from its impending demise. Despite contributing as much as they financially could, SEPTA simply didn’t have enough money to cover the local match. What’s most heartbreaking of all, was how quickly KOP Rail’s greatest supporters abandoned the project in its time of need. Montgomery County was unwilling to contribute a single cent to the local match, despite the estimated $22 million in tax revenue they would gain from transit-oriented development. And none of the KOP Rail Coalition Members stepped forward to contribute even a fraction of their billions of revenue to fund the local match. On March 17, 2023, KOP Rail would die a tragic and lonely death when it was denied Grant Funding from the FTA.
We at the Philly TRU are deeply saddened to hear about the news of KOP Rail’s passing. Some wings were just built too fragile to fly close to the sun. We can only hope that SEPTA will honor the legacy KOP Rail by investing in a comprehensive frequent bus service in and around King of Prussia, so residents and computers alike can quickly and conveniently navigate the area by transit.