Railway expansion in spotlight at President Biden's Scranton stop

It’s impossible to visit Scranton and miss the city’s railroad history.

Start at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, a repurposed former train station, and you’ll find The Railyard, a restaurant and bar just across the street. Head northwest up Lackawanna Avenue and you’ll pass the Scranton Hobby Center — half the front window full of model trains — before getting to the Marketplace at Steamtown and curving around Cliff Avenue to Steamtown National Historic Site and the Electric City Trolley Museum, where President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday evening.

“I am the most railroad guy you’re ever gonna meet,” Biden told the audience at the top of his speech, recounting the many miles he traveled via Amtrak as a senator and vice president.

But right now, despite the history present throughout the city, Biden’s childhood hometown doesn’t have passenger rail access.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which seeks to improve and modernize the nation's physical infrastructure — roads and bridges, public transportation, energy grids — includes $66 billion for Amtrak.

Earlier this year, the passenger rail service proposed a national expansion plan that would add three new routes in eastern Pennsylvania — including one from Scranton to New York City — and upgrade existing lines.

The president outlined the key points of that bill, which passed the Senate in August and awaits a House vote, as well as his Build Back Better agenda during his speech.

Read more:Here's some PA projects that could benefit from Biden's infrastructure bill

Of interest:Amtrak: New PA routes could serve 1.3 million, come 3 years after funding

“Not really an accident that we’re standing here on train tracks,” U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Moosic) said in brief remarks before Biden spoke. He noted that the audience included Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority President Larry Malski as well as Amtrak President Stephen Gardner and Amtrak CEO William Flynn.

“It’s great to have them in Scranton to see the area,” Tyler Kusma, executive director of the Scranton Rail Restoration Coalition, said after the event. “I would take their attendance as a very positive sign, and we look forward to working with them and PennDOT, once the bipartisan infrastructure bill passes, to make this a reality. Amtrak has been a very strong partner for the past few months, and they’ve been working with Larry, so it was great to see them personally there and represent that this is a priority.”

Amtrak and the PNRRA signed an agreement over the summer for Amtrak to assess the infrastructure along the proposed Scranton-NYC route and study ridership and revenue.

Altogether, the three new routes Amtrak is proposing — separately connecting Allentown, Reading and Scranton to New York City — would have an estimated economic impact of $6 billion from initial capital investments and $199 million annually.

Related:Amtrak: NYC-Scranton route's economic impact would be $87 million a year

The evening included an opportunity for Malski to speak with the Amtrak leaders, “so that was very helpful too.”

Amtrak is “very impressed with the educational aspect” of the Scranton-NYC route, Malski said.

“Their corridor trains that service college and university cities are some of their standouts in terms of ridership and the need for ridership,” Malski said.

With the University of Scranton and several others at the west end of the route, East Stroudsburg University and northern New Jersey schools in the middle, and numerous NYC schools around the east end of the route, “they believe there’s a strong potential for university, education, college-type ridership potential on our route.”

Amtrak expects that the three proposed routes in Pennsylvania would serve 1.3 million riders annually.

If passenger rail materializes and enables faster travel, “we will take literally millions of automobiles off the road. Off the road, saving tens of millions of barrels of oil,” Biden said.

The president also touted bridge repairs, lead pipe replacement, renewable energy and other elements of the infrastructure bill, along with Build Back Better priorities such as child care, preschool and assistance with caring for elders and those with disabilities.

Negotiations over the Build Back Better bill are ongoing, and it’s not clear when Congress will be ready for a vote. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Scranton) expressed optimism in his opening remarks, saying, “Yes, Governor: We. Will. Pass. Both. Bills,” in agreement with Gov. Tom Wolf’s expectation that the legislation will pass.

Kathryne Rubright is a reporter covering the environment, northeast Pa. politics, and local news. She is based at the Pocono Record. Reach her at krubright@gannett.com.