It’s been more than 50 years since passenger trains ferried travelers from Scranton to New York City, and many in Northeast Pennsylvania had given up hope that a rail line would ever return. But funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law may finally bring back passenger trains to run between the Electric City and the Big Apple. “We’re at the point where it’s ours to lose,” U.
S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-8th District), told the Capital-Star.
As U.S. Sen.
Bob Casey (D-Pa.) — one of the rail line’s biggest boosters— campaigned in Scranton this week, the chances that the region will see a return of its rail line seem brighter than ever. When the U.
S. Senate voted to pass the $1.2 trillion package in August 2021, Casey voted in favor, while then-U.
S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.
) voted against it. In the lower chamber, every Democrat in Pennsylvania’s U.S.
House delegation, plus Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District), voted in favor of the bill. As Casey seeks a fourth term in office, he’s often touted the passage of the infrastructure bill and the impact he believes it will have across the Keystone State during his campaign.
Given the Casey family’s longtime presence in Scranton, it’s perhaps not surprising that Sen. Casey has been a supporter of reestablishing the rail line for several years. Back in 2008, Casey sent a letter with then-Sens.
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer of New York describing why the rail line w.