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1/17/2025
After receiving federal funding to expand passenger rail across the state, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is taking the next step to pursue the proposed Scranton to New York Penn Station Passenger Rail Corridor project.
PennDOT is developing a project service development plan, which will include stakeholder engagement with railroads, agencies and the public; service options analysis; capital project identification and cost estimates; environmental analysis; and financial planning, PennDOT officials said in a press release.
The corridor project would restore intercity passenger-rail service between Scranton and New York Penn Station, providing access to New York City and northwestern New Jersey. The proposal has been the subject of numerous studies, including the Amtrak Connects US Corridor Vision Plan, and long-range transportation plans that show growing demand for intercity passenger-rail service along a corridor that has heavy auto traffic and unpredictable travel times for commuters, PennDOT officials said.
The corridor study and development is made possible by the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) program in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. PennDOT's development of its service development plan follows the FRA’s approval of the scope of the plan, which was funded with $500,000 from the Corridor ID program. The $5.46 million cost of the plan's development will be 90% federally funded with PennDOT matching 10%, department officials said.
PennDOT will serve as the lead agency and Amtrak as the proposed operator of the route, which would be owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority, New Jersey Department of Transportation, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak.
The route from Scranton to New York City last served passenger trains in 1970 as part of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Today, the entire right of way is still intact, with the majority in active use by various public rail operators.
After the service development plan is completed and federally approved, the projects identified in the plan will begin preliminary engineering and environmental review in coordination with the FRA, PennDOT officials said.