Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad

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The Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad (SWP) is a small railroad that operates in southwestern and central Pennsylvania. The SWP uses rail branches that have been abandon by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as well as the now defunct Pennsylvania Railroad. Most of the track used by the SWP is in either Fayette or Westmoreland counties.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad’s headquarters are located in Scottdale, Pennsylvania. The railroad runs as far north as Greensburg and Radebaugh. It runs south through Dunbar, Pennsylvania, to Uniontown and continues on into Smithfield. The SWP also makes stops in Owensdale, Broadford, Mt. Pleasant, and Fairchance. The Owensdale and Broadford stops are particularly important. The railroad’s only major interchange is in Owensdale. The SWP joins the major commercial railroad, CSX, at Broadford. The SWP operates under CSX track rights from Broadford to south of Connellsville.

A new connection to the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway has been installed, expanding the SWP. A new connection to New Stanton allows the SWP to service the Sony facility and a new intermodal terminal under construction.

The SWP only faces two problems in its immediate future. Firstly, as the SWP expands, it will constantly be forced into competition with the considerably larger CSX railroad. Since CSX bought out Conrail, the railroad almost has a monopoly over southwestern Pennsylvania. The second problem concerns whether or not the SWP should bother running south past Mt. Braddock to Uniontown. Since Uniontown’s revitalization has been started, construction has closed parts of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad’s tracks. As of 2000, the SWP has been forced to obey common traffic signals while moving through the congestion of downtown Uniontown, causing problems with scheduling.