In the News

The effort to restore passenger rail between Scranton and New York City has received $9 million toward construction, officials announced Tuesday.

“This money is not study money. This money is construction money,” said Larry Malski, president of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority, at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton. The PNRRA owns the tracks on which the Pennsylvania portion of the route will run.

Three bridges need work before Amtrak service can begin between Scranton and New York City. This funding, from the federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant program, will be used to remove dirt and build a bridge carrying Slateford Road above the tracks in Northampton County, close to the Delaware River.

With this addition, federal and state funding toward restoring passenger rail totals more than $20 million, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright said.

The project is ready to move into the second phase of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor ID Program, Cartwright said. This phase, the service development plan, includes “details like laying out stations, how often trains will run, what kind of amenities will be offered on the lines, what upgrades are needed and what the project’s overall cost will be,” he said.