The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced it is advancing the Scranton to New York Penn Station (NYP) Passenger Rail Corridor project, which has reached its second milestone—a step that includes the creation of a Service Development Plan (SDP). The proposed route, roughly 140 miles long, would restore intercity passenger rail service dormant since 1970.
The project is one of just five in the nation to reach Step 2 of the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) three-step Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
PennDOT entered Step 2 in December 2024, after the FRA selected the corridor for consideration in December 2023. The FRA approved the project’s purpose and need statement in October 2025 as part of the ongoing Step 2 work.
PennDOT is using Step 2 funding to create the SDP, which includes stakeholder engagement with railroads, agencies and the public. It also includes service options analysis and transportation planning, capital project identification, conceptualization and cost estimating, environmental analysis and financial and implementation planning.
The proposed Amtrak-operated service would provide three daily round trips between Scranton and New York Penn Station. The route would include potential intermediate stops at East Stroudsburg and Mount Pocono in Pennsylvania, along with Blairstown, Dover, Montclair, Morristown and Newark in New Jersey.
PennDOT said the corridor would serve employment, business, leisure, tourism, recreation and higher education access for underserved communities in northeastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey.
The roughly 140-mile corridor consists of four distinct segments, and while much of the route runs on active rail lines, key sections will need to be rebuilt.
A 28-mile stretch between Slateford, Pa., and Port Morris, N.J., known as the Lackawanna Cutoff, was abandoned by Conrail in 1979 and had its track removed, though the right-of-way remains intact. NJ Transit is currently reconstructing the eastern seven miles to extend commuter service to a new station in Andover. An additional mile of track south of Slateford Junction will also need to be rebuilt.
Step 1 grant funding of $500,000 was fully federally funded. The Step 2 SDP development is estimated at $5.46 million, with the federal government funding 90% and PennDOT matching 10%.
If the project advances to Step 3 of the Corridor ID program, it will enter additional project development work including engineering, environmental reviews and the preparation of bid documents, budgets and timelines. These efforts would prepare the project for construction and eventual service.
PennDOT will host a virtual public meeting webinar on Feb. 19. The webinar will include an overview of the initiative, a summary of route options and locations for potential stations. Attendees can submit public comments during the meeting or through the project website.
Photo by Vladimir Veks from Pexels
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