Press Releases

U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright (PA-08) today announced that the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad Company will receive $900,000 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) fiscal year 2020 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program (CRISI) for the enhancement of the Green Ridge Yard located in Scranton. The CRISI program provides funding for capital projects that will improve passenger and freight rail transportation systems in terms of safety, efficiency, or reliability.

“Rail is important to Northeastern Pennsylvania’s role in transporting goods up and down the Eastern U.S., and I applaud the partnership between the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad and the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority for their commitment to expanding rail in the region,” said Cartwright, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “During this pandemic, we need to stay focused on our long-term goals for a sustainable economy—with clean air and safe roadways—as we also respond to our urgent, current needs. This grant will help us now and for years to come as it expands our ability to use rail for shipping, helping our businesses and taking pressure off our roads.”

“This federal CRISI grant awarded to the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad (DL) is another example of our nationally recognized successful public/private partnership between the DL and the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority that has brought back the rail freight industry as a new economic growth industry in Lackawanna and Monroe Counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” said Larry Malski, President of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA).

Malski also cited the state of the art Flour Mill built on the rail line in Mt. Pocono as an example of the many new industries that have located on the rail lines that were saved from abandonment by the Rail Authority and now have again become a powerful economic tool in creating new jobs in Lackawanna and Monroe Counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The PNRRA was formed in 2006 with long-term goals to keep rail as a major economic development force in Northeastern Pennsylvania and to continue to solicit, market and expand new industries along their regional rail network.

“This CRISI Grant is an essential investment in a public asset, and a strategic investment in the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad,” said Charlie Monte Verde, Senior Director of Strategic Planning at Genesee Valley Transportation Co. Inc. “In 1993, we took over an operation of around 1,500 railcars-hauled. We’ve grown that figure to just shy of 10,000 railcars-hauled for our substantial customer base. 2020 has illustrated just how many of our customers are essential services in times of national emergency. With the infrastructure restoration funded by this unique federal, regional and private-sector partnership, our customers can take solace in knowing that their material will be in-hand when they—and our nation—need it to be.”

The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, owned by Genesee Valley Transportation, operates 88 miles of track in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna, Monroe, Northampton, and Wayne counties and interchanges with Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern Railway. The rail line transports a variety of commodities, including grain, forest products, paper, plastic, clay, steel, petroleum and fuel products, chemicals, and stone.

CRISI funds will support a four-component project at the Class III Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad Company’s Green Ridge Yard and at a junction with Class I Norfolk Southern Railway at Hyde Park in Scranton. The components will: 1) construct the connecting track between the South Wye Track and North Wye Track at Hyde Park, 2) construct additional working tracks and a crossover at the new locomotive service and inspection facility at Green Ridge, 3) realign and extend yard tracks at Green Ridge Yard, and 4) enable other site improvements at the locomotive service and inspection facility.