Request for proposals planned to seek purchase and lease offers for Luzerne County rail

A solicitation is under development to publicly seek proposals from all companies interested in buying or leasing some or all of Luzerne County’s rail line and related property assets to determine what they are willing to pay, county Redevelopment Authority Board Chairman Scott Linde said Thursday.

Reading & Northern Railroad, which operates passenger rail excursions to Jim Thorpe and other locations in the region, is interested in buying the authority-owned rail line for millions of dollars and also would invest millions of its private funds to improve the line, including at least $2 million to upgrade the 8-mile line between Pittston and Wilkes-Barre to accommodate 30-mile-per-hour passenger trips, company Chairman and CEO Andy M. Muller Jr. has said.

Muller has maintained the county can legally appraise the line and sell it to an entity without bidding.

But Linde said the “general agreement” among board members involved in overseeing the line is that a fair and open solicitation is necessary. As many as eight other rail operators have expressed interest in buying or leasing some or all of the line, he said.

A competitive proposal process is required in this situation because the public has invested millions of dollars in rail line repairs and upgrades, Linde said.

Linde emphasized he only has one vote on the five-member authority but is sharing the overall plan to keep the public informed as speculation about the future of the line plays out in the media.

The authority’s willingness to collect and consider purchase and lease offers is a significant new development because board members have advocated retaining public ownership of the line.

The county wanted the authority to turn over the railroad so it could be sold to recoup $3.28 million still owed from a 2001 loan prior commissioners had provided to the authority so it would not default on its mortgage and risk losing infrastructure that services businesses, letters show.

While the delinquent loan was stated as a reason, it appears to be part of a broader county push to put the track into private ownership, with the hope that it would add passenger rail service while retaining and building commercial use.

An ownership transfer to the county did not materialize, prompting a county council-authorized suit in July against the redevelopment authority, which owns the line, and the nonprofit Rail Corp., which maintains a lease agreement with the rail operator.

The 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.

However, litigation takes time. A Thursday order issued by presiding county Court of Common Pleas Judge Lesa S. Gelb said jury selection in the matter will commence on Aug. 31, 2026, barring amicable resolution of the case before then. A settlement conference was scheduled on June 25 with mediation office Attorney Benjamin Nicolosi, it said.

Both the authority and the Rail Corp., which is governed by a seven-member board that includes all five authority board members, have filed litigation responses arguing there is no loan default to act upon because the county’s repayment extension document requires the authority to repay the county at zero interest by October 2026.

The Rail Corp. recently extended an agreement for R.J. Corman Railroad Group to continue serving as county rail line operator through October 2026.

Linde, who also chairs the Rail Corp., said Thursday that work is underway on the draft solicitation seeking purchase and lease offers — known as a request-for-proposals, or RFP.

He said he is pushing to complete and release the solicitation as soon as possible. Linde said he personally will be looking for options that are in the best interest of the line while generating enough revenue to pay off the county loan by October 2026.

Linde also said he is personally open to including county council members or other county officials in the review of RFP responses and subsequent negotiations to sell or lease some or all of the line.

“That’s how I envision the process,” Linde said. “We look forward to working with the county and other stakeholders.”

State Rep. James Haddock, D-Pittston Township, who serves on the Rail Corp. board, said Thursday that a majority of board members support the solicitation.

“We have a responsibility to consider all options, and as a board member I will look at all options,” Haddock said, adding that the matter involves “heavy decisions” that “shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

Haddock said he would not support a sale or lease without a competitive process. Even if an appraisal is completed, he said competition could drive up the price beyond that amount.

“If the decision is made to sell, I would never sell something for millions of dollars with just one buyer’s quote. It’s just not proper for all the stakeholders, including taxpayers,” Haddock said.