ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A study on the potential return of passenger service to Allentown, Pa., by Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation and consulting firm WSP was released Wednesday, narrowing from 12 to five the potential routes such service might take.
The full 60-page study, available here, provides a roadmap for the process it would take to restore passenger service to the Lehigh Valley, as well as a preview of the form similar studies are likely to take for potential routes chosen in December for the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program [see “Full list of passenger routes in FRA Corridor program released,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 8, 2023[
The Allentown Morning Call reports the study offers five possible routes: Two to New York, via connections with NJ Transit lines in New Jersey; two to Philadelphia that would require rebuilding of removed lines that are currently rail trails to ultimately connect with existing Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority lines; and one to Reading, where it would connect to a proposed Reading-Philadelphia passenger service.
Costs for those routes would range from $450 million to $739 million, with the routes to Philadelphia being the most expensive because of the need to rebuild lines; infrastructure is mostly in place for the two proposed New York routes. And the study projects a 14-step process projected to take 10 to 12 years before service would begin, no matter the option selected.
Service to Allentown was not among the routes selected for the FRA’s Corridor ID program last year; the study released Wednesday was a necessary step before pursuing acceptance into the federal program, the newspaper reports.
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