“After 40+ years of the Rail Authorities’ acquisition and preservation of abandoned rail corridors in Northeastern Pennsylvania, these public investments in economic development have finally rewarded all of NEPA with the successful selection of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority’s Pocono Mainline by the Federal Railroad Administration for the institution of Amtrak Rail Passenger Service between Scranton and New York City,” said PNRRA President Larry Malski.
The partnership that has evolved between the PNRRA, PennDOT, NJT, Amtrak and many elected officials, specifically Congressman Matt Cartwright, Senator Bob Casey, Governor Josh Shapiro, Mayor Paige Cognetti and the coalition of Mayors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey made it possible to achieve this pivotal goal.
“The support of the State Senators, State Representatives, County Commissioners and grassroots organizations along the route has provided immeasurable support and assistance for the final success in this economic development project and transportation alternative project for all NEPA residents,” said Bob Hay, PNRRA Chairman and Dominic Keating, Vice Chairman on behalf of the PNRRA Board of Directors-Greg Christine, Andy Forte, Charles Garris, Atty James Tierney, Atty Jerry Weinberger and Jim McLaughlin.
“The productive analysis already paid for and performed on this Passenger Rail Corridor, including preliminary engineering, environmental approvals, ridership analysis, operations analysis, preliminary cost estimates and infrastructure upgrades already completed by PNRRA will help advance our Corridor to begin construction which has been our goal all along,” said Malski.
Today’s decision substantiates the decades long effort on behalf of myself and Charlene Doyle, PNRRA VP of Administration to successfully bring passenger rail back to Scranton and all of NEPA in the face of many naysayers and critics, but we were always guided by the huge majority of the population of NEPA who encouraged and supported the Rail Authority’s efforts to achieve this monumental goal.