WILKES-BARRE — PennDOT is advancing the transformative Scranton-to-New-York-Penn-Station (NYP) Passenger Rail Corridor project and will host an online public meeting to engage the public in the process, Secretary Mike Carroll announced on Thursday.

Carroll said a virtual public meeting will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, to update the public and accept feedback on the project to re-establish inter-city passenger rail service.

PennDOT announced that progress continues after receiving federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments to expand passenger rail across Pennsylvania — and the project remains one of just five in the nation to reach the Step 2 milestone.

“The Shapiro Administration has been full steam ahead to advance this project that would be transformative for the northeastern region’s economy and mobility,” Carroll said. “The department continues aggressively improving roads and bridges, while investing every possible state and federal dollar into passenger rail services across the Commonwealth.”

PennDOT asks that participants register for the seminar in advance at bit.ly/3Mh8bcl to receive a meeting invite and webinar link.

The webinar recording will be available on the project website for at least 60 days after the meeting.

During the webinar, an overview of the Scranton-to-New-York Rail initiative, a summary of route options, and potential station locations will be presented.

Public comments can be provided during the meeting or through the project website.

The department’s SDP includes:

• Stakeholder engagement with railroads, agencies, and the public

• Service options analysis and transportation planning

• Capital project identification, conceptualization, and cost estimating

• Environmental analysis

• Financial and implementation planning

PennDOT said the current Scranton to NYP Passenger Rail Corridor project being studied through the SDP would restore inter-city passenger rail service between Scranton and NYP, providing access to New York City, northwestern New Jersey, and northeast Pennsylvania for employment, business, leisure trips, tourism, recreation, and opportunities at higher education institutions along the approximately 140-mile route.

The proposed route would include potential intermediate stops at East Stroudsburg and Mt. Pocono, Blairstown, Dover, Montclair, Morristown, and Newark, N.J.

The proposed corridor would provide new service — three daily round-trip trains — on mostly active rail lines and would rebuild infrastructure that has been abandoned in a portion of one segment.

PennDOT said the Corridor has been the subject of numerous studies, including the 2021 Amtrak Connects US Corridor Vision Plan, and long-range transportation plans that show growing demand for intercity passenger rail service along a corridor with heavy auto traffic and unpredictable travel times for commuters and other travelers.

The Corridor will provide an inter-city transportation option for historically underserved northeastern Appalachian Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey.

The corridor study and development is made possible by the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with the goal of developing formal planning studies and performing preliminary engineering for new intercity passenger rail corridors, as well as enhancements to existing passenger corridors.

The SDP milestone follows the FRA’s approval of PennDOT’s SDP scope. The SDP scope’s $118,000 investment was fully funded by the program, and the development of the SDP — estimated at $5.46 million — will be 90% federally funded, with PennDOT matching 10%.

With PennDOT as the lead agency and Amtrak as the proposed operator, the owners of the route – Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority (PNRRA), New Jersey Department of Transportation, New Jersey Transit (NJT), and Amtrak — are all project partners in working to restore passenger service to this corridor.

According to PennDOT, the route from Scranton to New York City last carried passenger trains in 1970, operated by the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Today, the entire right-of-way is still intact, with the majority in active use by various public rail operators.

Starting in Scranton, the 60-mile segment of the route in Pennsylvania and across the Delaware River is owned by PNRRA and currently used for freight rail service and Steamtown excursion trains between Scranton and Slateford. One mile of track south of Slateford Junction was previously removed and will need to be reconstructed.

The Lackawanna Cutoff, a segment of the route between Slateford and Port Morris, N.J., carried its last freight train in 1979 as part of the Conrail network and subsequently had its track removed. The portion of this segment in New Jersey is owned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. NJT is actively reconstructing about seven miles of track at the east end to extend its commuter service from Port Morris to Andover, NJ. The other 20 miles from the Delaware River to Andover will need to be restored.

From Port Morris, the route will run over existing NJT commuter lines to Kearny, N.J.

At Kearny, the route connects to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor for the last eight miles into New York Penn Station.

After the SDP is completed and federally approved, the projects identified in the SDP will advance to preliminary engineering and environmental review in coordination with the FRA.

Information on passenger rail in Pennsylvania can be found at bit.ly/4qliha6.

Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.