PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Department of Transportation is awarding $500,000 to help reestablish rail service between Philadelphia and Reading.
The Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority will finally restore existing rails that haven't been used since the 1970s. Pennsylvania Representative Madeleine Dean says she’s happy she made the push to have trains make stops in Pottstown, Phoenixville, and Norristown en route to Reading.
"This is such an exciting development,” she said. “This is what investing in America looks like."
Officials wanted to start the project sooner, but the funds were not available. Dean calls the $500,000 grant “important money.”
"If this had been three or four years ago, the federal dollars were not there,” she said. “We didn't have infrastructure investment the way we need it.”
Dean says she expects there to be four to eight round trips on the restored rails daily, once service is up and running.
Dean's office will meet with DOT officials during project meetings this week. She says that’s when she expects to learn how long it could take to complete the project.
She says Senators Bob Casey and Matt Cartwright are working on a companion set of bills that would reconnect New York City to Scranton.