First Passenger Train in Lehigh Valley Since 1980s

Amtrak on Wednesday announced it will operate a special excursion train through the Lehigh Valley utilizing railroad tracks that have not been used for passenger rail since the 1980s.



Amtrak says in a news release that the train, scheduled to run on Oct 29 and 30, will follow the former route of the Queen of the Valley passenger train. It's being billed as this year's Autumn Express, a program that aims to put the service's trains on routes that haven't had passenger rail in decades.



But railroad enthusiasts shouldn't start packing their bags in anticipation of regular passenger rail service coming back to the region. This is a one-time excursion. The lines are used for freight and that's not going to change anytime soon, according to the company that owns them.



For at least one weekend, though, the enthusiasts are in for a treat.



"This year's Autumn Express departs New York Penn Station, passing under the Hudson River and stopping in Newark to accept passengers and transition from electric to diesel power," the news release says.



The train will then utilize the former Lehigh Valley Railroad to head west "through the famous Musconetcong Tunnel, opened in 1875, and across the Delaware River en route to Allentown," the release states.



The train will pass through the region and on to Harrisburg, where it will change direction and return to Philadelphia. There, it rejoins Amtrak's Northeast Corridor for a high-speed run back to Newark and New York.



It'll be a long trip: the train departs from Penn Station at 8 a.m. and doesn't return there until 6:30 p.m.



And there are no actual stops in the Lehigh Valley.



Amtrak officials last year said they were working on bringing an inspection train to the Lehigh Valley by this spring in an effort to bolster support for restoring passenger rail, but it never panned out.



Discussions of the inspection train followed a call from the mayors of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton to work on a long-range plan to restore passenger rail to the Lehigh Valley. Such service to the region had disappeared entirely by the early 1980s.


Norfolk Southern owns the lines that Amtrak will use for the excursion train. The volume of freight traveling on the lines is substantial, but the company was able to work something out to allow Amtrak access, Norfolk Southern spokesman Dave Pidgeon said Wednesday.



"They brought this proposal to us and we found a way to accommodate them for this one-time event," he said, adding a strong partnership has always existed between the two entities. "We know each other very well. We operate over their network. They operate over ours."



But Pidgeon cautioned against those looking to correlate the excursion train with the possibility of regular passenger rail service returning to the Lehigh Valley.



"Norfolk Southern's perspective on passenger rail remains consistent," he said. "We're open to viable proposals but any proposal has to take into account the cost and potential impact to our current and future freight operations."



The Autumn Express tickets are $149 for adults and go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 3. Children aged 2-12 ride for half price with each adult ticket. Customers also receive a boxed lunch, souvenir tote and complimentary lapel pin with the purchase of their ticket.



Tickets can be purchased by visiting amtrak.com or by calling 1-800-USA-RAIL.



Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.