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Amtrak and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently capped off a more than three-year project that will enable the railroad to operate faster trains on the 104-mile Keystone Corridor beginning next month.

Amtrak, Pennsylvania and the Federal Transit Administration spent $145 million to upgrade the corridor by installing about 200 miles of continuous-welded rail, 216,000 concrete and 48,000 wood ties, and 52 new switches. Amtrak also rebuilt passenger cars and will operate electric service on the route.

The upgrades will enable Amtrak to increase trains speeds from 90 mph to 110 mph along the Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg line. On Oct. 30, the national intercity passenger railroad will launch 90-minute express train service between Harrisburg, Lancaster and Philadelphia, 30 minutes faster compared with the current trip. Local service between Harrisburg and Philadelphia will be reduced to 105 minutes.

In addition, Amtrak will add three weekday roundtrips, as well as one each on Saturday and Sunday.