The dream of passenger rail service connecting Scranton, the Poconos, and New York City is moving along the tracks closer to becoming a reality! The route was recently accepted into the Corridor ID Program, and the Federal Railroad Administration will be providing $500,000 in funding towards the proposed line.
Watch the Scranton-Poconos-NYC Passenger Rail Rally Replay
Officials reflect on what the proposed restoration of passenger rail would mean for the area.
The Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, joined by partners in the Pocono Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, the NEPA Alliance, the Scranton Rail Restoration Coalition, and Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, hosted a public rail rally on Tuesday, December 19, 2023 at 6 p.m. at Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, with officials including Congressman Matt Cartwright in attendance to discuss the next steps of the proposed rail line to connect Scranton, Mount Pocono, East Stroudsburg, and New York City.
Keep this page bookmarked to find future updates including highlights from the rally, answers to submitted questions, and more resources about how to help build momentum and show your support of the proposed line.
The proposed corridor will include new stations in Scranton, Mount Pocono, and East Stroudsburg in Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, stops are proposed for Blairstown, Dover, Morristown, Newark and New York City.
The proposed schedule for the corridor would include three roundtrips per day, allowing visitors a choice of departure and arrival times.
The estimated travel time between New York and Scranton on the corridor is two hours and 50 minutes. Trains would travel at a maximum speed of up to 110 mph (on the Lackawanna Cutoff segment) and transport an estimated 470,000 riders per year.
Service could potentially begin as early as 2028, pending completion of design work and construction by stakeholders including PennDOT, NJ TRANSIT and Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority with support and funding from the federal government.
Now that the proposed corridor has been selected for Corridor ID, the federal government will provide necessary funding to begin developing the scope, schedule and budget for the project. The second stage will involve a service development plan, and the third stage will include preliminary engineering and environmental review. Portions of this defined route already exist as passenger rail, and the corridor is already government-owned. Additionally, significant recent studies have already been completed, including a study conducted by Amtrak, which should help the project to advance quickly.
The New Jersey section of the route is being proposed in correlation with the PA side, with input from NJ Congressman Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak. The project has support from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Amtrak, and all the local communities it touches.
Amtrak completed an Analysis of Options for Scranton - New York Amtrak Passenger Rail Service with a Preliminary Service Plan and Financial Analysis in March 2023. View the full study here and find precise proposed station locations on this map.
The proposed location for the Scranton station is the Scranton Intermodal Terminal on Lackawanna Avenue by the Mall at Steamtown.
The proposed location for the Mount Pocono Station is the Martz Bus Mount Pocono Terminal on Fork Street off of 611.
