PennDOT Pushes Forward Scranton–New York Passenger Rail Plan, With Lackawanna Cutoff Rebuild at the Center

Published: February 19, 2026

Pennsylvania’s long-discussed idea of restoring passenger trains between Scranton and New York City is moving into a more formal planning phase, as PennDOT advances what it calls the Scranton to New York Penn Station (NYP) Passenger Rail Corridor through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development (Corridor ID) program. The department says it will use the current step of work to refine route options, identify needed capital projects, and continue public engagement as it develops a full Service Development Plan (SDP) for the roughly 140-mile corridor.

At the heart of the proposal is the Lackawanna Cutoff, the famed Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (DL&W) shortcut across northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania. While much of the Scranton–New York route still exists as an active railroad, PennDOT and its partners acknowledge that a critical segment would require rebuilding infrastructure that has been dormant for decades—especially where track was removed on the Cutoff and at a short gap near Slateford Junction.

Following the abandonment of the Lackawanna Cutoff, looking towards Roseville Tunnel in the fall of 1989 about a decade after Conrail stopped using the corridor.

A corridor with deep roots—and a long gap in service

Passenger trains once linked Scranton with New York as part of the DL&W and later the Erie Lackawanna network. But according to PennDOT, the route last saw passenger service in 1970, just before the creation of Amtrak.

That history matters because it frames the project’s core pitch: restore a direct rail connection for a region that currently relies heavily on highways for trips to North Jersey and Manhattan—trips that can be unpredictable due to congestion and weather. PennDOT argues the corridor would offer a new intercity option for communities in northeastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey that have been “historically under-served” by passenger rail

What PennDOT is studying now

PennDOT’s current work is centered on producing a Service Development Plan, the document that typically becomes the foundation for future engineering, environmental work, grant applications, and (eventually) construction. In its February 2026 update, PennDOT said the SDP effort includes: stakeholder engagement, service options analysis, capital project identification and cost estimating, environmental analysis, and financial/implementation planning.

This corridor is being developed through the FRA’s Corridor ID Program, created to build a national pipeline of intercity passenger rail projects. FRA’s program provides early-stage funding and structure—starting with scoping and moving toward a service development plan and related pre-construction work.

PennDOT and its partners have emphasized that the Scranton–New York corridor is relatively far along for a new-start expansion: PennDOT described the project as reaching a notable Corridor ID milestone and continuing into Step 2 activities (the SDP phase).

Who owns what: four segments, three states’ worth of complexity

One reason the Scranton–New York concept has taken decades to mature is that it is a multi-owner, multi-agency corridor that stitches together freight territory, state-owned right-of-way, NJ Transit commuter lines, and the nation’s busiest passenger railroad—the Northeast Corridor.

PennDOT’s project portal breaks the route into four distinct segments:

Scranton to Slateford, Pennsylvania (about 60 miles):
Owned by the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA), this portion is active today, hosting freight operated by the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad and excursion trains connected to Steamtown National Historic Site.
Slateford, PA to Port Morris, NJ (about 28 miles): the Lackawanna Cutoff:
This is the most famous—and most challenging—piece. PennDOT notes it was abandoned in 1979 and the track was removed, though the right-of-way remains intact. Ownership is split, with parts held by PNRRA and parts by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Importantly, AASHTO’s report adds a specific near-term hurdle: about one mile of track south of Slateford Junction was previously removed and will need reconstruction.
Port Morris to Kearny, New Jersey (about 43 miles):
This segment runs over existing NJ Transit commuter lines, with PennDOT noting there are two potential route options between Denville and Newark: the Morristown Line or the Montclair-Boonton Line.
Kearny, NJ to New York Penn Station (about 8 miles):
The final approach uses Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) into Manhattan, a shared, capacity-constrained trunk line used by both Amtrak intercity trains and NJ Transit commuter service.

Service Concept

PennDOT’s current working concept is three daily round trips between Scranton and New York Penn Station.

A 2023 Amtrak-led study prepared for PNRRA outlined an illustrative “vision plan” that aligns closely with PennDOT’s corridor description, including stations in Scranton, Mt. Pocono, East Stroudsburg, Blairstown, Dover, Morristown, Montclair, Newark, and New York. Amtrak’s public summary also suggested a travel time of about 2 hours 50 minutes between New York and Scranton and noted the concept could reach up to 110 mph on the rebuilt Cutoff segment in the most optimistic scenario.

PennDOT similarly lists potential intermediate Pennsylvania stops at East Stroudsburg and Mt. Pocono, and New Jersey stops at Blairstown, Dover, Montclair, Morristown, and Newark.

Lackawanna Cutoff

The Cutoff is the corridor’s missing link—its right-of-way remains, but large sections lack track following Conrail's 1979 abandonment of route. Meanwhile, NJ Transit is already working at the eastern end: the state’s project portal notes that the eastern seven miles from Port Morris to Andover are under reconstruction to extend NJ Transit commuter service to Andover, while the remaining miles from the Delaware River toward Andover would still need restoration for through service to Scranton.

That makes the broader Scranton–New York initiative something like a “chain” project: the corridor is only as strong as the least-complete link, and the Cutoff has long been that link.

Funding, process, and the road ahead

PennDOT has tied the project’s momentum to federal rail investment authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act / Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which funds the Corridor ID program and early planning work like SDPs.

What the SDP phase typically does—beyond mapping and scheduling—is turn a big idea into a list of buildable projects: track reconstruction, signal and PTC work, station footprints, bridge/tunnel needs, layover and maintenance facilities, and the operational realities of fitting new trains onto NJ Transit’s commuter network and Amtrak’s NEC. Amtrak’s study also notes that equipment decisions and crew qualification can take substantial lead time, and that new equipment often must be ordered years ahead.

PennDOT has also emphasized public engagement as part of this step. The department announced a virtual public meeting as part of the SDP process, saying the webinar would present an overview of the initiative, summarize route options, and discuss potential station locations—while also collecting public comments.

Moving Forward

If the project advances from study into construction and eventual service, it would be a headline-level shift for northeastern Pennsylvania: the return of regular passenger trains to Scranton with direct access to North Jersey and Manhattan. PennDOT and its partners argue that could reshape travel choices for commuters and leisure travelers alike, and Amtrak’s earlier work framed the corridor as one with strong potential demand.

But the remaining hurdles are real: rebuilding missing track (including key sections of the Cutoff and the short gap near Slateford), aligning Pennsylvania and New Jersey priorities, coordinating with NJ Transit operations, and securing the capital funding required for infrastructure and rolling stock—plus the inevitable environmental review steps that come with projects of this size.