Amtrak to expand daily service between Pittsburgh and New York before Thanksgiving
Bringing another Pennsylvanian train into service will double travel options for people traveling east-west between the state’s two largest cities.
A second daily Amtrak passenger train between New York’s Penn Station and Pittsburgh will begin operating in mid-November, after an $80 million state investment in track and safety upgrades, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced Monday.
Bringing another Pennsylvanian train into service will double travel options for people traveling east-west between the state’s two largest cities; it also will provide more capacity for riders to and from New York.
The train currently has stops in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Altoona, Johnstown, Latrobe, Greensburg, and Pittsburgh.
“The people of Western Pennsylvania have waited a long time for more passenger rail service and my administration has chased every opportunity to get this done,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement.
The Pennsylvanian travels the Norfolk Southern-owned Pittsburgh Line, part of a main artery for freight moving between Chicago and metropolitan New York. The freight railroad has major terminals in Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley.
To expand passenger rail service on the line, the Shapiro administration in 2023 obtained $143 million in federal passenger rail funding for infrastructure improvements, including crossovers, sidings, and signals. Construction continues and is scheduled to be finished by 2030.
In fiscal year 2025, the daily round-trip Pennsylvanian carried 236,000 passengers, according to Amtrak.
Details about schedules and booking information will be released closer to when the expanded service begins, Amtrak spokesperson Beth Toll said.
