The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) is a bi-county creation of both Lackawanna and Monroe counties to oversee the use of common rail freight lines in

Northeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a geographic region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Carbon ...

. The designated freight operator of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority lines is the

Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area. DL began service in August 1993 and is the designated operator for of trackage in Lackawanna, Wayne, Northampton, a ...

and tourism operator is

Steamtown National Historic Site Steamtown National Historic Site (NHS) is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The museum is buil ...

. One of its primary objectives is to re-establish rail passenger service with

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

between Scranton and

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

by way of the Lackawanna Cut-Off, with connecting service into

Manhattan, New York Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

is also a possibility for passenger rail service to Scranton as well by way of the Lackawanna Cut-Off.

History

The PNRRA was formed in May of 2006, when Lackawanna and Monroe counties agreed to merge their rail authorities. The consensus reached was that the operation of the railroad needed to be a multi-county venture and that a regional approach was necessary as trackage begins and ends outside individual county boundaries. In addition, it was felt that the pooling of resources was necessary in order to operate a railroad in a very competitive environment and, conversely, to obtain the funding necessary to operate a railroad from the State and Federal governments. The Lackawanna County Railroad Authority was established in 1985 had over 16 million dollars in assets and operates more than of track in Lackawanna, Wayne and Monroe Counties. The Monroe County Rail Authority was created in 1980, and controlled over 12 million dollars in assets, with trackage totaling . In 2007 the Agency received the 5th Annual John J. Luciania Award for regionalism from the NEPA Alliance, the Agency that serves as the RPO and MPO for the two regions that are working together to implement passenger rail.Monroe County, PA Commissioners' Meeting Minutes 10-17-07
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Trackage

The Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority owns the following lines: * the former Delaware and Hudson Railway's Pennsylvania Branch/Penn Division main line from

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

, northeast to the city of Carbondale, now called the Carbondale Mainline. * the former

Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

main line, now called the

Pocono Mainline The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

(also known as Pocono Main), towards

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

market from Scranton to

Slateford Junction Slateford Junction was a railway junction in the small town of Slateford, Pennsylvania. It was built to connect the existing mainline of the Lackawanna Railroad, the so-called Old Road with the new Lackawanna Cut-Off. It was in service from 1911 u ...

. The Pocono Mainline has hosted a number of excursions, including excursions of the

Nickel Plate 765 Nickel Plate Road 765 is a class "S-2" 2-8-4 " Berkshire" type steam locomotive built for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road". No. 765 continues to operate in mainline excursion service an ...

.http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/observation-tower/archive/2015/08/28/trains-chase-guide-nickel-plate-road-765-scranton-pa-to-the-delaware-water-gap.aspx TRAINS Chase guide: Nickel Plate Road 765, Scranton, Pa., to the Delaware Water Gaphttps://www.nps.gov/dewa/learn/historyculture/upload/cmsstgdlwrr.pdf Spanning the Gap: Pocono Mainline Rail Excursion, Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad * from Southwest Scranton to Montage Mountain,

Moosic Moosic ( ) is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, south of downtown Scranton and northeast of downtown Wilkes-Barre, on the Lackawanna River. Moosic is in a former coal-mining region. A few older industries existed at one time, includ ...

on lines of the former

Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad The Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad, more commonly known as the Laurel Line, was a Pennsylvania third rail electric interurban streetcar line which operated commuter train service from 1903 to 1952, and freight service until 1976. Its main li ...

third-rail

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

streetcar line. This line is called the "Laurel Line". The Laurel Line also connects with the "Minooka Industrial Track".

Staff

* Lawrence C. Malski (President) * Charlene W. Doyle (Vice President of Administration)

Board members

* Jim McLaughlin (Chairman) * Robert C. Hay (Vice Chairman) * Atty James F. Tierney, IV * Andy Forte * Greg Christine * James Burne, Jr * Charles Garris * Dominic Keating

References

{{reflist

External links

PNRRA official websitePNRRA trackage map
County government agencies in Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority Transportation in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Monroe County, Pennsylvania