Amtrak proposes adding passenger train route to Scranton, PA

Amtrak, the nation’s largest passenger railroad, proposes a possible route between Scranton and New York City as part of its nationwide expansion plan.

An idea first officially floated more than a decade ago, the proposal for Amtrak service between the two cities appears on a map that officials of the federally owned railroad have circulated lately as they lobby Congress for $25 billion over five years for expansion.

Ray Lang, Amtrak’s senior director for national-state relations, presented the map in September during a Zoom webinar hosted by officials of the Rail Passengers Association, which advocates for wider passenger rail development.

Repeated efforts to reach Lang were unsuccessful. His slide presentation focused mostly on untapped, larger markets elsewhere, but the map brightened the hopes of local advocates. They view the Amtrak proposal as one more possible funding source for a project that so far centers on New Jersey Transit developing and operating the train. New Jersey Transit handles that state’s mass transportation. ...........(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/news/21164478/pa-amtrak-proposes-adding-passenger-train-route-to-scranton