The 2025 State Rail Plan will serve as a guide for the advancement of the Pennsylvania freight and passenger rail system. The document will replace the 2020 State Rail Plan and provide updates on rail development activity and information to support further investment in the rail system. The 2025 update will provide a current assessment of the state’s rail needs along with recommendations for policies, programs, processes, and projects to improve rail safety and service, and serve as a practical roadmap for future rail investment and policies.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) hosted a second virtual public meeting on October 16, 2025. The meeting provided an overview of the Draft 2025 State Rail Plan that was completed in September of 2025, and was followed by an interactive question and answer session between the project team and meeting attendees.
In addition to the nine members of the project team, 42 people attended the second virtual public meeting. They represented freight and passenger rail entities including All Aboard Lehigh Valley, Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority, and Transtar, as well as county and state officials, elected officials, community organizations, railroad industry supporters, media organizations, and the general public.
The project team presented the contents of the Draft 2025 State Rail Plan that includes: the Role of Rail, Pennsylvania’s Existing Rail System, Initiatives and Investments, Service and Investment Program, and Coordination and Review. The outreach activities conducted for the 2025 State Rail Plan were outlined, and included three virtual Stakeholder Workshops in 2024, the first virtual public meeting held on December 10, 2024, and a second virtual public meeting held on October 16, 2025, a public survey, and 12 focus group meetings with economic development organizations, trade associations, and shippers.
During the second half of the virtual public meeting, attendees posted 14 questions to the virtual meeting question and answer session. PennDOT responded to all questions during the meeting, however, four of those questions required additional research before PennDOT could fully respond. Eleven of the 14 questions involved Passenger Rail. One question was raised about state grant applications considerations, another asked about the physical upgrade of historic train station buildings, and one asked about Light Rail.
PennDOT will respond to over 90 additional questions/comments that were received during the public comment period that ran from October 16-24, 2025. All questions/comments and PennDOT responses will be included in Appendix H of the Final 2025 State Rail Plan document.
Click below to view the public presentation slideshow.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) hosted a virtual public meeting on December 10, 2024. An introduction of the Pennsylvania State Rail Plan update process and background on freight and passenger rail was presented during the first half of the meeting, followed by an interactive question and answer session between the project team and members of the public.
PennDOT opened the meeting by welcoming attendees and introduced the project team. Presenters explained that PennDOT is currently in the process of developing the 2025 Pennsylvania State Rail Plan, which was last updated in 2020. A key component of the State Rail Plan is gathering input from the public and stakeholders on safety, passenger and freight rail, funding, policy, the environment, and economic development. Presenters indicated the meeting PowerPoint presentation, questions and answers, and the online survey would be available on the State Rail Plan website after the meeting. A QR code was also presented to direct meeting attendees to complete a public survey.
There were 161 people in attendance at the virtual public meeting representing a variety of organizations. Attendees represented freight and passenger rail entities including Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad, Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority, Transtar, as well as local and county officials, state representatives, school districts, economic development organizations, port authorities, news organizations, and the general public.
During the second half of the public meeting PennDOT’s project team responded to 23 questions that attendees posted to the virtual meeting chat. Approximately 15 additional questions were answered through the detailed Q&A document, which will be included in the final State Rail Plan document and is also available by request.
Questions generally fell into the following four categories:
Other Questions (13 questions):
These questions focused on general transportation needs, traffic impacts, and multimodal walking/biking trails adjacent to active tracks.
PennDOT closed the virtual Public Meeting and stated that attendees could direct additional questions or comments to the PennDOT resource account at RA-PDPASRP@pa.gov.
View the Virtual Public Meeting held on December 10, 2024 to learn more about the State Rail Plan update.
PennDOT held three meetings with various stakeholders, including railroads and elected officials throughout September 2024. Click the button below to view the presentation from these meetings.
