Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority Sets Train On Track

READING, PA —Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority met for the first time in person Wednesday afternoon, setting a plan in motion to restore passenger train service from Reading and Philadelphia.

The plan calls for restoring passenger train service on Norfolk Southern tracks, providing stops in Norristown, Phoenixville, Pottstown and Reading. It also includes connections from Philadelphia to New York and Washington, D.C.

The nine-member authority, consisting of three representatives from Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties, met for two hours in the Berks County Services Center in downtown Reading.

Amtrak requires one government authority representing all three counties to proceed with the project. Amtrak will cover capital costs for the project.

Each county provides the authority $100,000 in startup costs.

The authority agreed to meet on the fourth Monday of each month with the next meeting on July 25.

The authority selected Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach to serve as chairman with Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz as vice chairman.

Montgomery County Commissioner Kenneth Lawrence Jr. was appointed treasurer, and Scott France, director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission was selected as secretary.

Other members on the committee are:

• Jim Gerlach, president of Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce
• Eddie Moran, Reading mayor
• Brian O’Leary, director of Chester County Planning Commission
• Peter Urscheler, Phoenixville mayor
• David Zellers, director of Montgomery County Commerce Department

First order of business

The authority unanimously agreed to prepare a letter for the Federal Railroad Administration expressing interest in the agency’s corridor program, which provides federal funding for regional rail projects.

The letter is the first step required to receive funding provided by President Biden’s Nov. 15, 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

France said the Reading to Philadelphia would fit the criteria to receive funding.

The authority formed a finance subcommittee to prepare a draft budget and bank recommendations.

The members are Lawrence, O’Leary, and Urscheler.

Leinbach said he is very proud of the way the committee has approached the process to restore train service.

“We recognize there is more that we don’t know than we do know,” he said. “But this is a critical step necessary to bring the train service back to Reading, to Pottstown and to Phoenixville,” Leinbach said. “Each of the areas is in one of our counties.”

He noted that the committee put a clause in the formation of the authority that the authority is required to reauthorize the authority in three years.

Leinbach said a suggestion has been made to provide the demonstration of an Amtrak train ride from Philadelphia to Reading during a National Planning Conference scheduled in April 2023 in Philadelphia.

Gerlach said Amtrak has started a bus service to serve as a temporary transportation option in the region.

He also requested that the group set up a budget plan for the fiscal year which runs from Oct. 1. to Sept. 30 to get the process started.

The authority members also discussed the procedures for hiring an executive director, developing a marketing plan and setting up an an office.