Lehigh Valley to New York City train service part of Amtrak’s vision for 2035

President Joe Biden’s proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan unveiled Wednesday includes a longtime Lehigh Valley wish-list item for commuters: passenger rail service to New York City.

05/08/2021

President Joe Biden’s proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan unveiled Wednesday includes a longtime Lehigh Valley wish-list item for commuters: passenger rail service to New York City.

Biden’s plan includes $80 billion for rail. Amtrak calls it a “vision for 2035″ that would add 20 million more passengers over 15 years, via more than 30 new routes and more trips on more than 20 existing routes.

While a proposed new service from LA to Las Vegas and expansion of services in Chicago and Atlanta grabbed a lot of attention, the service map shows passenger rail service from Allentown to New York City.

“This is certainly what we’ve been hoping for,” Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong said.

Armstrong spoke to current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier this year about the Lehigh Valley’s transportation needs. It was a good sign the secretary, who served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, came from local government and can see how much local governments depend on infrastructure, Armstrong said.

Returning passenger rail to the Lehigh Valley “is still in the distant future, but it is something that could never happen without the federal government commitment,” Armstrong said. “It is a very expensive project.”

The Northeast Corridor is a critical transportation link for the Northeast’s major metropolitan economies, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said, but has bridges, stations and tunnels need immediate replacement or rehabilitation.

“Amtrak has a bold vision to bring energy-efficient, world-class intercity rail service to up to 160 new communities across the nation, as we also invest in our fleet and stations across the U.S. With this federal investment, Amtrak will create jobs and improve equity across cities, regions, and the entire country – and we are ready to deliver. America needs a rail network that offers frequent, reliable, sustainable and equitable train service. Now is our time, let’s make rail the solution,” Flynn said in a prepared statement.

The last passenger trains to run on tracks in the Valley were in 1981 on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) service to Philadelphia, according to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

Two years later, New Jersey Transit ended passenger service in Phillipsburg. The closest stops now are High Bridge on the Raritan Valley line and Hackettstown on the Morristown line.

Armstrong had family and friends who worked for Amtrak. When passenger rail lines were closing in the 1970s and 1980s, they said it was a mistake, that it would cost “four to five times more to bring them back in the future. It really is,” the county executive said.

Lehigh Valley officials have spent years pushing to bring passenger trains back to the region. Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell said Thursday he has never given up hope of re-establishing passenger rail service from Allentown to New York City.

“Significant hurdles that have developed over the last 60 years stand in the way. President Biden’s infrastructure plan’s investment in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line could eliminate a lot of those hurdles,” O’Connell said. “I look forward to the passing of the legislation and seeing what it can do to bring about the resumption of passenger rail service in the area.”

Part of the issue is freight rail regularly use the local tracks, and exploding warehouse and manufacturing growth doesn’t mean that will stop, officials said.

Norfolk Southern is the dominant freight rail carrier in the region. Its main line runs from Newark, New Jersey, to Harrisburg, and passes through Lehigh and Northampton counties. A secondary main line runs north from Allentown to the Scranton area.

Norfolk Southern made an exception in 2016 for Amtrak’s Autumn Express passenger train to run on the former Queen of the Valley line. That line was used for passengers more than 40 years ago, and ran from New York, through Easton and Allentown on the way to Harrisburg.

Amtrak said it has the right to access all existing rail infrastructure to expand passenger rail in corridors shared with freight rail.

Armstrong said bringing passenger rail back would mean improvements and upgrades that would also benefit freight rail.

LANTA has lobbied for improvements to its existing bus service by saying they would be easier and cheaper than light rail to serve the Lehigh Valley. Amtrak said its plan would fill the gaps created by airlines and bus carriers that have steadily reduced service in communities.

A Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. study in 2010 found reconnecting the Valley to NJ Transit would cost $658.9 million

In 2015, the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study created a Road to Rail initiative to study connecting rail service to Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and Harrisburg, as well as between Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

Biden has touted his plan as a way to create millions of jobs. Rail service to the Lehigh Valley would not only create quality jobs, but would incentivize investment and growth, and turbocharge economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Congresswoman Susan Wild.

“It is long past time for us to invest in commonsense infrastructure like this, and I look forward to working in Congress to get this project – and other needed investments - done for families across Pennsylvania,” Wild, the Lehigh Valley’s representative of Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, said.

The $80 billion for passenger rail service “will be hugely important in building back better and bolstering the Commonwealth’s economy,” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said. “I urge Congress to quickly move forward to pass this plan into law.

Credit: Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com