In the News

It’s not the same thing as a train arriving at the Scranton station, but the Shapiro administration’s decision to make PennDOT the lead agency in the effort to reestablish passenger rail service to New York resolves one of the most persistent problems with the project.

For decades, long before the passenger-rail effort was tied to Amtrak, the state government was a major impediment to service restoration. New Jersey’s government gradually has extended the necessary tracks east of the Delaware River, but Pennsylvania’s government never had committed fully to the project.

Restoration advocates originally devised a plan dependent upon the state governments to rebuild the once-busy line across the Delaware through Stroudsburg to Scranton, with New Jersey Transit as the operator.

Now, due largely to the rail-friendly Biden administration and the federal infrastructure law that has committed $66 billion to Amtrak upgrades, the federal government would pay for 80% of line reconstruction and Amtrak would operate the service.

Friday, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright of Lackawanna County, and Larry Malski, president of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority, announced that PennDOT will be the lead agency this week when advocates submit an application for Scranton-New York to be a new Amtrak rail corridor. Malski’s organization and New Jersey Transit will be co-sponsors. The Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program will make the call.

Advocates believe the region will have a strong application due to decades of groundwork on the previous restoration plan. But the state commitment long had been the key missing piece.

Amtrak itself has conducted a preliminary study finding that the line has a ready market among businesspeople, college students and tourists interested in outdoor recreation. The line would produce about $87 million a year in economic activity in the region, it found.

The progress still is on paper rather than on restored tracks, but PennDOT’s participation makes rail service far more likely. Credit the governor for recognizing the potential, the Biden administration for its commitment to passenger rail, and committed rail advocates such as Cartwright and, especially, Malski, who have persisted in the face of repeated disappointment.