‘Moving ahead:’ Election shouldn’t stymie passenger train project’s progress, officials say

A multifront effort to restore passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City is losing some of its chief advocates in Washington, but officials pointing to projected economic and other benefits don't expect leadership changes to derail the long-developing train project.

As proposed, the restored service would see Amtrak passenger trains run between Scranton and Manhattan's Penn Station with stops in Mount Pocono, East Stroudsburg, Blairstown, Dover, Morristown, Orange and Newark. An Amtrak study released in March 2023 found that restoring such a service would generate $84 million in new economic activity annually, creating jobs on both sides of the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border while offering myriad benefits to leisure travelers, hybrid workers, college students and commuters alike.

Much of the project-related progress advocates have celebrated in recent years has been made possible by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a signature legislative achievement of outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden. The Scranton native and known Amtrak aficionado will leave the White House in January when Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Trump's decisive victory earlier this month coincided with acknowledged or likely losses by two of the proposed rail project's other longtime elected advocates, Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright and Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. The latter has yet to concede to Republican Army veteran and former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick, but appears poised to lose his Senate seat after three terms.

The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Nov. 7, and Decision Desk HQ did the same Thursday, though the narrow margin of McCormick's lead has triggered an automatic recount under state law. Counties must finish the forthcoming recount by noon on Nov. 26; it's unlikely to change the outcome of the race. McCormick led Casey by about 24,188 votes as of Friday morning.

Cartwright, meanwhile, lost his 8th Congressional District seat to Republican businessman and political newcomer Rob Bresnahan Jr. The Democrat issued a concession statement the day after the election and will leave office after six terms.

Funding delivered

Both Cartwright and Casey spent part of the Tuesday before Election Day at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton, where they announced nearly $9 million in federal funds to support construction along the proposed Scranton-to-NYC passenger train line.

That funding, delivered through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant program and made possible by Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law, will specifically be used to remove fill that ends the Pocono Mainline just below Delaware Water Gap, rebuild a vehicle bridge and restore a rail connection to the Lackawanna Cutoff section of the Amtrak route in New Jersey, officials said.

Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority President Larry Malski at the time called that funding "the real deal," crediting Casey and Cartwright for helping deliver dollars for actual construction.

"I've waited many decades to be able to announce construction money for this project and it's here today," he said Oct. 29. "And it's only here because of the people here today and especially due to the efforts of Sen. Casey and Congressman Cartwright to deliver what we've got."

With one of those lawmakers having acknowledged defeat and the other on the verge of it, the newspaper asked Malski last week if he worries those outcomes will stymie the train project.

"No, simply because it's not just a transportation project — it's an economic development project," he said, noting the $84 million in annual economic activity it's projected to bring. "I mean if it's any portion of that amount of economic development, it'd be hard to have anyone say 'well we don't need that kind of economic development for northeastern Pennsylvania."

Malski also noted the support the project enjoys from Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll and others at the state level, and the considerable work that has gone into the effort to this point by officials here and in New Jersey. The almost $9 million federal grant puts the total money secured in Pennsylvania for the project at $20 million, a mix of state and federal funds.

"We're moving ahead on what we got, which is the first money that we've had for construction on the passenger project," Malski said last week. "We're doing reach-outs obviously to Congressman Bresnahan and Sen. McCormick if and when obviously that vote tally is settled, but, like I said, no matter who it is ... they both support economic development and this is one of the biggest economic development projects in Northeast Pa., so we're quite hopeful that everything is going to continue and go on."

Cartwright addressed the rail project during an Election Day interview with the newspaper, calling it "one of the marquee projects for new rail in the United States" that could be a model for the rest of the country.

"So that means there's so much momentum behind this now that it's just a question of when," Cartwright said, noting his then hope to continue doggedly pursuing the effort in Congress. "Of course, there are a lot more politicians who see the likelihood of it happening and they're getting more involved and engaged, and that's a wonderful thing. And don't make any mistake, I am very grateful to the broad coalition of mayors and county commissioners and state representatives, state Senators from both sides of the aisle who have jumped on board my coalition, and that's one of the things that has made it work, working together."

Bresnahan, a self-described "infrastructure guy" who rose to prominence locally as the young chief executive of his family's third-generation electrical contracting business, Exeter-based Kuharchik Construction, addressed the train project in a pre-election interview with the newspaper. He expressed support in principle for restoring local passenger rail service to New York City provided it's done in a safe and fiscally prudent way, acknowledging the project's potential to create family-sustaining jobs in the trades and other sectors.

The newly-elected Republican largely reiterated that position in a statement last week.

"As a heavy highway electrical contractor, I am always excited about rebuilding our infrastructure and promoting projects that present opportunities to showcase NEPA to the rest of the country," Bresnahan said. "While I haven't yet had a meeting to discuss the current status of the Scranton-to-NYC train project, I am eager to learn more in the coming days and weeks. Ultimately, my priority is to make certain that this project doesn't become a long-term burden on taxpayers and that we have strong safety protections in place — whether through a port authority or similar measures — to keep passengers secure."

Work remains

The local rail project marked a major milestone late last year when the Federal Railroad Administration selected it for inclusion in the Corridor Identification and Development Program, which is designed to identify new, viable passenger train routes. That program has three steps, Malski said, "and the third step is where you get the big bucks."

"We believe we finished step 1, we've got everything submitted and we're just basically awaiting notification that we're being moved into step 2," which includes additional documentation, final engineering and the completion of a service development plan, Malski said. "We believe we've got a lot of it done. There's obviously some things we still have to do as per the FRA's requirements."

The third step would deliver potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for continued construction and related work in advance of the eventual restoration of passenger service that could happen as early as 2028 or 2029, assuming plans come to fruition.

With that goal in mind, Malski said Cartwright and Casey have been "tremendously vital to getting us where we are now."

"I mean ... $20 million may not sound like much in the scheme of things but after 40 years that's the first money that we've gotten for construction on the passenger project," he said. "There's a lot to go, but you've got to start somewhere and it took this long and it was because of Congressman Cartwright and Sen. Casey that we got that construction money."

Frank Wilkes Lesnefsky and Jim Lockwood, staff writers, contributed to this report.