Dear John,

This week's celebration of the return of passenger rail services to Northeastern Pennsylvania comes as the result of decades' worth of steadfast supporters remaining determined to have this amenity return to our region after over fifty years.

It truly was an unforgettable night as members of our communities from all across NEPA joined together at Mt. Pocono's Kalahari Resorts and Conventions for our rail project's information session.

We covered a lot that night, including the next steps of our rail project and our current expectations for when we can expect the first train to roll out from Scranton-to-New York City.

There is more work ahead of us, but we have done our best to make sure that our project's application is as competitive as possible to ensure its acceptance. My best estimate is that we can expect to see trains rolling out of Scranton in late 2028.

So what comes next? Step one is complete now that our rail project has been selected for Corridor ID and Development. The federal government will provide $500k in funding to begin developing our proposed rail project's scope, schedule and budget.

Stage two is the service development plan, and the federal share of funding is 90%. This stage requires a detailed project schedule, ridership and revenue forecasts, cost estimates, station areas and route options, and labor and fleet planning.

Stage three is the preliminary engineering and environmental review and the federal share of the funding for this stage is 80%. Projects that complete all three stages will be prioritized for federal construction funding.

I am happy to report that our project is well ahead of others across the nation as we have already completed many of these requirements, which now just need to be updated to meet specific standards for the FRA’s Federal-State Partnership Program.

For additional information click here.

A sincere thank you to the Greater Scranton and Pocono Chambers of Commerce, and the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau (PMVB), for hosting the passenger rail information session and honoring me with the PMVB's Chairman's Award for my efforts in returning passenger rail back to NEPA.

Full steam ahead!

Earlier this week, I had a great time getting to meet and speak with students at East Stroudsburg South Senior High School during a Civics Forum with my friends and colleagues Rep. Tarah Probst, Monroe County Commissioner David Parker, community leader Tameko Patterson and East Stroudsburg University President Kenneth Long.

I was seriously impressed and inspired by these students' passion and interest in being active in their communities and questions regarding local, national and international topics.

Thank you to East Stroudsburg South Senior High School's Michael Healey for inviting me to your Civic Forum and to all of our educators who work each and every day to shape the minds of our future generations and mold tomorrow's leaders.

Today I introduced the Preparedness and Risk management for Extreme weather Patterns Assuring Resilience and Effectiveness (PREPARE) Act, legislation that would ensure that Americans across the nation are prepared for extreme weather events.

Democrats and Republicans agree - in order to protect our communities while saving taxpayer money we must establish best practices across the government to be prepared before extreme weather events occur.

For every dollar we spend on mitigation, we can save six dollars on the averted potential recovery costs after a natural disaster.

Most importantly, being better prepared will give our communities greater peace of mind, as we work to stand ready in the face of extreme weather events.

Learn more here.

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating! Wishing you and your family all the joys of the season and much happiness throughout the coming year.