EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Monday was the first time Nicole Bucich, the vice president of Network Development at Amtrak, got a good look at the rails in East Stroudsburg. The reason behind it is to one day bring back passenger rail service to northeastern Pennsylvania.
"I think it makes it real for us, and especially being in towns like this where you see clear support for future railroad service," said Bucich. "That makes all the difference in the world."
Bucich, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, and officials from N.J. Transit and PennDOT toured the proposed station stops to look at what work needs to be completed and some of the challenges they could run into.
Amtrak estimates the proposed passenger train between Scranton and New York City will bring in more than $80 million dollars a year to the local economy.
"There are already developers lining up along the travel of this route because they can see the business development that can occur," said Rep. Cartwright (D), 8th District.
Rep. Cartwright's district includes parts of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, and Wayne Counties.
The preliminary service plan includes three trains in each direction every day with a run time of under three hours from Scranton to NYC.
Bucich says what makes this line so great is the number of people who already use Amtrak.
"Whenever you have the opportunity to take advantage of a base, sort of a ridership base, that we have in and out of New York City, it's sort of going in, you're in a good position in terms of ridership potential. A lot of this particular corridor having the right of way owned primarily by the states on either side also puts us in a good position to be able to move forward," said Bucich.
Currently, there is no timetable for the proposed project.
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