Western Pa. lands $144M in federal funding for expanded passenger rail service

It’s all aboard for more passenger rail service in Western Pennsylvania.

Federal lawmakers said Wednesday that the Federal Railroad Administration is putting $144 million toward a project that will add a daily round trip on Amtrak’s passenger rail line between Pittsburgh and New York City.

The funding will be used to upgrade rail infrastructure along the Keystone West Corridor between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg that will allow Amtrak to add a second daily round trip on the Pennsylvanian line, which runs from Pittsburgh to New York via Harrisburg and Philadelphia.

The line also has stops in Greensburg, Latrobe, Johnstown and Altoona.

The funding came from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, according to lawmakers.

PennDOT will match 20% of the project’s total cost, according to a news release. The state agency and Norfolk Southern Railway finalized an official agreement in September on construction work to the corridor that includes right-of-way acquisition, upgraded rail lines, sidings and necessary communications signals infrastructure.

U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, said the upgrades and added service in Western Pennsylvania were long overdue.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said improving rail service “means more jobs, more economic opportunities, and more time spent with family for urban and rural communities alike.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, said that Pennsylvanians will benefit from more trains and more public transportation and the upgrades should result in more reliable service.

“This service will go a long way to ensure Pittsburgh is connected to the rest of Pennsylvania and the entire eastern corridor, bringing new life to our cities and creating hundreds of good-paying, union jobs along the way,” said U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale.

The corridor is owned by Norfolk Southern, which has priority on the line. That can sometimes delay Amtrak passenger trains. Railway officials have said the upgrades should improve the reliability of trains, but likely won’t improve speeds. The Pennsylvanian takes more than five hours to go between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, and more than nine hours between Pittsburgh and New York City.

Separate federal funding is also providing new Airo trains on the route, which include new cabin interiors with panoramic windows, larger tray tables and upgraded chairs.

Chris Sandvig, executive director of the transportation advocacy group Mobilify, said the funding is a big win for the region.

“I’m really excited to see more passenger rail coming to Pennsylvania. For many communities, this train is the only connection to the outside world that’s not a car,” Sandvig said. “Southwest Pennsylvania should seize the opportunity created by this big win, along with other recent rail funding announcements, to connect with cities like Chicago, Cleveland and Columbus.”

Western Pennsylvania also was included in funding to study the potential of a new passenger train route from Pittsburgh to Chicago via Columbus, Ohio. That $500,000 study will seek to determine if such a route should be included in the federal Corridor Identification program.