Trending
Amtrak released its preliminary report last week on the potential economic benefits of restoring passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City, and it makes the prospect all the more tantalizing.
Local rail and economic development advocates have attempted for decades to restore the passenger service, which ended in 1970.
It was only this year that Amtrak, the federally subsidized passenger service, included the Scranton-New York service in its proposed expanded route map, along with potential lines from Reading to Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley to New York.
Optimism for restoration also has risen with the election of President Joe Biden, an ardent rail advocate who has included $65 billion for Amtrak in the new infrastructure package.
Amtrak estimated that a one-way trip to New York would take 3 hours, 25 minutes, with Pennsylvania stops at Tobyhanna, Mount Pocono and East Stroudsburg, and New Jersey stops at Dover, Morristown and Newark Liberty International Airport.
A major advantage over previous plans is that the service would arrive directly at Penn Station in Manhattan, so that passengers would not have to change trains in New Jersey.
According to Amtrak, the service would generate $87 million a year in economic activity on top of $2.9 billion from initial development of the line.
It cited congested traffic around New York City as a key incentive for the service. And it identified multiple work and recreation travelers to New York City, and New Yorkers seeking outdoor recreation in the Poconos and the Scranton area.
The report is encouraging, but it is just half of the ledger.
Ultimately, the yet-to-be-determined cost of operating the service likely will be the key to its restoration.
For now, the benefits are a strong incentive to proceed.