Rail operator reiterates commitment to bring passenger rail excursions to Wilkes-Barre

Reading & Northern Railroad Chairman and CEO Andy M. Muller Jr. reiterated Tuesday he is still willing to invest at least $2 million of the company’s private funds to upgrade the 8-mile rail line between Pittston and Wilkes-Barre to accommodate 30-mile-per-hour passenger trips.

Muller’s proposal was first reported last month, when he also told a Times Leader reporter the downtown Wilkes-Barre lot he recently purchased will become a passenger platform station for the train excursions if the company succeeds in acquiring Luzerne County’s rail line.

This would allow those boarding at Wilkes-Barre to travel to Reading & Northern’s Pittston station and then to historic Jim Thorpe, he had said.

Eventually, trips could go both ways, with residents of Jim Thorpe and other southern points traveling to Wilkes-Barre for events and other packaged tourist options, Muller said.

Reading & Northern already runs excursions from the Jim Thorpe area to Pittston’s annual Tomato Festival, which brings 600 to 800 additional visitors to the Pittston event, Muller had said.

Muller stressed again Tuesday he is confident the project, paid solely with private funds, would be a major boost for Wilkes-Barre.

He ran an advertisement in Sunday’s edition about the proposal, which emphasized his company promises to “promote positive growth” in Wilkes-Barre and the Wyoming Valley and that it “HAS NOT and WILL NOT ask for any taxpayer money!”

In addition to investing the $2 million to upgrade the line between Pittston and Wilkes-Barre for passenger rail, Muller said he would pay to purchase the actual line.

“Who else would come in and provide passenger rail for free? But for us to make this kind of investment, we have to own the railroad. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish, and the public support has been overwhelmingly positive,” Muller said.

The county’s Redevelopment Authority owns the rail line, and the county council-appointed redevelopment authority board members have advocated keeping the railroad under public ownership.

Because the authority still owes the county $3.28 million loaned in 2001 for the original acquisition of the line, county council authorized litigation that was filed in July against the authority.

Letters show the county wants the authority to turn over the railroad so it can be sold to recoup the $3.28 million. While the delinquent loan was stated as a reason, it appears to be part of a broader push to put the track into private ownership, with the hope that it would add passenger rail service while retaining and building commercial use.

The pending county suit seeks the appointment of a receiver agreeable to the county to preside over the mortgaged property and real estate, an order staying any sale or lease of rail property without the county’s prior written consent and an award of attorney’s fees and court costs, it said. Another option would be a declaration that the more than $3 million is immediately due and/or that the loan agreement is terminated, it said.

Both the authority and the nonprofit county Rail Corp., the other defendant, filed litigation responses arguing there is no loan default to act upon because the county’s repayment extension document require the authority to repay the county at zero interest by October 2026.

The Rail Corp., which maintains a lease agreement with the rail operator, recently extended an agreement for R.J. Corman Railroad Group to continue serving as county rail line operator through October 2026.

If the county is successful in taking possession of the line, county officials said they would have to publicly seek proposals from all interested buyers. County council approval would be required for a sale.

Muller said Tuesday he is certain the rail line would flourish under his company’s ownership.

“Most people realize there are very few things — if anything — government does well compared to private businesses,” Muller said. “You can’t run a major business with a group of volunteers.”

Muller said the current model of relying on a rail operator is not in the best long-term interest of the line because the operator is essentially renting the line for a period of time.

Separate from passenger excursions, he predicted ownership by his company would significantly increase commercial use of the county line. Reading & Northern started 30 years ago with approximately 7,400 carloads and is now up to 40,000, he said.

Muller credited local and county elected officials advocating for the plan.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown, Pittston Mayor Michael Lombardo and several county council members have spoken favorably of the proposal.

“They see the potential and are trying to get it done, but this is not easy when there’s a fight on every move,” Muller said.

The vacant 0.68-acre Wilkes-Barre lot his company purchased is along the county rail line and across from the historic former train station that houses the county tourism office. The Reading & Northern parcel is between the Market Street Business Center commercial strip center and a Starbucks currently under construction in the complex, which is framed by Wilkes-Barre Boulevard and Northampton and Market streets.

Although passenger excursions would initially only be leaving Wilkes-Barre, Muller said the plan would also be to make Wilkes-Barre a destination for incoming train arrivals.

In addition to constructing the Wilkes-Barre passenger platform station, Reading & Northern would build a station in Pittston’s downtown as part of the proposal to acquire the line, Muller said. Currently, Lombardo arranged for buses to bring arriving passengers from the station in the city outskirts to the Tomato Festival.

Muller said the Pittston-to-Jim Thorpe September excursions sold out, and the October seats are “selling like hotcakes.”

He said his company has the connecting rail lines and private funds required to make passenger excursions a reality for Wilkes-Barre.

“Imagine what I can do in Wilkes-Barre, building a station there,” Muller said.

Headquartered in Port Clinton, Reading & Northern serves more than 80 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties — Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill and Wyoming.