On May 13, 2022, at the Annual Economic Outlook Summit, the possibilities of an Amtrak line from New York City to Poconos was the hot topic. The summit was presented by the East Stroudsburg University in the Monroe County.
The conversation has been going on for a decade now and studies are underway in parallel to the planning stages of recovering the railway. Larry Malski, the president of NEPA regional railroad authority, mentioned that the rail authority has already entered a contract with Amtrak and they will be paying about $400,000 to initiate preliminary engineering and to evaluate the physical characteristics of the rail road such as the speed and schedule.
The initial proposal aims at running three trains every day between Scranton, Poconos, New Jersey and New York. This passenger rail service can help supercharge the growing tourism and recreational industry in the Poconos.
Tourists from New York and New Jersey will be able to enjoy a convenient and economical journey to the Poconos, once this rail service is up and running. However, the speed at which this new route will be operational is still anyone’s guess, as the route from Lehigh Valley to New York via Poconos is part of the 2035 vision of Amtrak, which also includes 39 other new routes.
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