Amtrak says NYC passenger train could start by 2028

Borys Krawczeniuk, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
Updated ·4 min read

Mar. 23—A Scranton to New York City passenger train could be rolling by 2028, carrying more than 300,000 riders in its first year and approaching 500,000 only two years later, according to an Amtrak study released this week.

Amtrak assumes a system designed with train speeds allowing travel between the cities in three hours or less, even with seven stops along the way, the study shows. The travel time matters because private buses typically take 2 1/2 to 3 hours, though buses don't make seven stops.

On the straight, 28-mile Lackawanna Cutoff in northern New Jersey, trains would travel up to 110 mph. Amtrak would start with three trains daily in each direction.

The study does not specify fares, but assumes ridership won't cover all operating costs and New Jersey and Pennsylvania will have to contribute. The study estimates annual revenues at almost $13.3 million and operating costs at more than $19.1 million.

The proposal, which the Federal Railroad Administration will soon take up, seems to have a key advocate in Amtrak Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gardner.

"Restoring and expanding this corridor with daily multi-frequency service would dramatically boost mobility and economic development for residents of Scranton and Northeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and the broader Northeast region," Gardner said in an Amtrak-issued news release accompanying the study's unveiling.

In fiscal year 2028, 302,100 riders would board the train. By fiscal year 2030, that would rise to 473,500.

The study estimates economic effects totaling $84 million — $3 million less than an earlier Amtrak estimate — with $20 million of that accrued from "saved passenger travel time, improved productivity of traveler time, and the quality, safety, and reliability of ... rail transportation compared to alternatives." Another $7 million of the $84 million "comes from increased public safety due to reduced (vehicle) travel and reduced public health costs from less air pollution."

Besides Scranton and New York's Penn Station, the train would also stop in Mount Pocono and East Stroudsburg in Monroe County, and Blairstown, Dover, Morristown, Montclair and Newark in New Jersey. The study does not mention a stop in Andover, New Jersey. New Jersey Transit plans a train station there for one of its trains, along the same route. The agency is rehabilitating a tunnel and adding 3.2 miles of track to 4.1 miles already in place along the cutoff. One of the major next steps is to restore the track on the cutoff's remaining 21 miles.

The study's findings are expected to form the basis of an application by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for the railroad administration's Corridor ID program. PennDOT is expected to file the application as early as Friday, but the deadline is Monday. New Jersey Transit and the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority are co-applicants. The authority hired Amtrak in July 2021 to do the study for $400,000.

FRA approval of the application would unlock money for detailed studies to actually install tracks and buy trains and other hardware.

Attorney Larry Malski, the authority's president, said Amtrak's support is real.

"We jumped on this two years ago, when the first inkling of this came out and everyone said, 'What are you doing? What are you doing here?'" Malski said. "We wanted to be the first ones out of the gate. And we were and they (Amtrak) were very congenial to us and said, 'Let's do this.' So that's what put together the two-year study that just came out now."

Gardner and Bill Flynn, Amtrak's CEO then, attended President Joe Biden's rally promoting his agenda, including infrastructure spending, in October 2021 at the Electric City Trolley Museum.

"We've formed great relationships," Malski said. "So we know the engineering team. We know the strategic planning team. We know that marketing team. We got to meet all these people in Amtrak and that's just been a blessing in itself."

Tyler Kusma, executive director of the Scranton Rail Restoration Coalition, whose group collected 10,055 signatures supporting the train, said the study's existence is significant. This year may turn out to be the key one in the project's long history, he said.

"There's been so many years of talk and talk about this project," Kusma said. "But now to have an actual Amtrak study with specific details and a proposed potential schedule and action items and next steps that they can take is just a phase of this that we've never been in.

"And it's incredibly exciting."

Contact the writer:

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com;

570-348-9147;

@BorysBlogTT on Twitter.