The biggest concern over use of the massive stimulus package signed last week by President Barack
Obama is that some of the money will not go to jump-start the economy for the short-term or to sustain
it for the long term. Mr. Obama himself issued a warning to big-city mayors that they must use their
shares to create jobs and contribute to long-term restructuring of the economy.
The biggest concern over use of the massive stimulus package signed last week by President Barack
Obama is that some of the money will not go to jump-start the economy for the short-term or to sustain
it for the long term. Mr. Obama himself issued a warning to big-city mayors that they must use their
shares to create jobs and contribute to long-term restructuring of the economy.
It is not yet clear how many projects can meet those objectives nationwide, but there is one obvious
pending project in this region that fits the bill.
At an economic forum Tuesday conducted by The Times-Tribune, a group of government, business and
civic leaders broadly agreed with an assertion by developer Jerry Joyce that the region should move to
accelerate the restoration of passenger rail service between Scranton and the New York City area.
This page made the same assertion soon after Mr. Obama’s election in November, as the structure of
the stimulus package began to take shape.
Targeting the rail project as the number-one stimulus project makes great sense.
The project already is an established goal of this region and the state governments of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania. Much preliminary planning has been done. New Jersey Transit, operator of the future
service, has begun extending its rail line in New Jersey. And last December, the Pennsylvania Northeast
Regional Railroad Authority announced that it will spend $4.5 million to purchase 10.6 miles of mainline
track from East Stroudsburg to Delaware Water Gap. That line is used primarily for freight but would be
used for passenger service. It carries occasional Steamtown National Historic Site rail excursions to
Delaware Water Gap.
The authority’s ownership of the line already will serve the cause of stimulus by enabling it to foster
industrial development along the route.
In addition to the job creation that would flow from the project itself and development that would
ensue along the route, the project dovetails with many other initiatives aimed at restructuring the
economy for the long term.
It would strike a blow for energy efficiency and against air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by
taking more people out of individual vehicles and putting them on the train. It would be an important
piece of infrastructure that would serve not just as transportation, but as a conduit for capital
investments along its entire route.
Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter, Gov. Ed Rendell, Reps. Chris Carney and Paul Kanjorski, Sen. Robert
Mellow and other members of the state legislative delegation, and all local officials along the route
should join in the effort to use the stimulus bill to accelerate the restoration of passenger rail service.