Pocono News Section

Federal Money for Rail Projects Does Not Include Scranton Proposal

Federal Money for Rail Projects Does Not Include Scranton Proposal - Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 6:10PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Thursday, Jan 28, 2010 @ 06:10pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY - President Obama made high speed rail projects his top priority on Thursday afternoon but one local project is not on the funding list.

Eight billion dollars was given out to states to fund specific projects but plans to restore passenger rail service between the New York City area and Scranton was not given any funding. Plans for the project have been in the making for years.

Funding has been a major stumbling block for restoring service. It is estimated to cost more than $500 million dollars.

"This area definately needs something and a lot of people do live here and work in the city," Bill Guzzon of Scranton said.

Guzzon is in favor of rail service and is just one of many people disappointed to hear no stimulus funds are coming to Scranton at this time.

"This has been talked about for 25-30 years. How long do you have to talk about something before someone finally realizes, hey, that's a great idea," Martin Sikorski of New Jersey said.

Mark Brennan from the Steamtown National Historic Site agreed. He remembers passenger service in this area.

"It was awesome. It was such a wonderful way to travel. As a kid, I can remember going to Ohio with my parents on it. The sleepers, the diners and the whole thing. I would love to see it come back," Brennan said.

Congressman Paul Kanjorski would like to see it come back too. In a statement to Eyewitness News, Congressman Kanjorski said, "It is disappointing that the Lackawanna Cut-Off did not receive some of the high speed rail funding." Kanjorski went on to say, "I have been a strong advocate for restoring passenger and freight rail service from Northeastern Pennyslvania to the New York Metropolitan area."

"I think it would be great at so many levels. It would certainly benefit the park (Steamtown) in terms of bringing visitors in the park. It would benefit, obviously, the traffic conjestion too," Brennan said.

Calls to the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority were not returned on Thursday.

According to the White House, one project in Pennsylvania did get federal funding. A total of $27 million is going to a route between Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.