Calling all fans of The Office: Amtrak has a treat for you!
After conducting a two-year analysis, Amtrak and the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) have concluded that instituting rail service between Scranton, PA (the home of the iconic show) and New York, NY would have some big payoffs in terms of ridership and economics. It would also be something of a comeback.
“Passenger rail service in and out of Scranton was discontinued in 1970, only one year before Amtrak was created,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “Restoring and expanding this corridor with daily multi-frequency service would dramatically boost mobility and economic development for residents of Scranton and Northeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and the broader Northeast region.”
The proposed service would use a mixture of current and restored tracks in the Tri-State Area. There would be 3 round trips a day between New York and Scranton, each around 2 hours and 50 minutes long. Trains traveling at a max of 110 miles per hour would transport 470,000 rides a year.
Stations for this service would be in Scranton, Mt. Pocono, East Stroudsburg, Blairstown, Dover, Morristown, Montclair, Newark, and NYC.
Though the cost is to number in the hundreds of billions, estimates already suggest that upwards of $100 million could be generated from this project from the get-go from economic activity and benefits associated with train travel.
Service could potentially begin as early as 2028. More information about the proposal is here.
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