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Delaware’s political leaders are pleading with Pennsylvania lawmakers to preserve the rail line that runs from Newark to Philadelphia and is slated for elimination.
“It is a lifeline for thousands,” Wilmington City Councilman Coby Owens said this week of the daily route that has stops in Stanton, Wilmington and Claymont.
Owens spoke out as Pennsylvania legislators are exploring and squabbling over possible solutions to bail out funding for the financially troubled Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, known as SEPTA.
Wilmington City Councilman Coby Owens says cutting the rail services raises the barriers to success for people who use it for work and school. (City of Wilmington)
SEPTA’s board has proposed eliminating several bus and rail routes, including the Delaware train line, unless it gets more money to operate. Under the current plan, SEPTA would begin phasing out the Delaware line this month and shut it down by January.
Gov. Matt Meyer wrote to SEPTA’s board in May, saying such a move would be disruptive to commuters, students and other travelers between the two states.
“Cutting service that stops in Delaware would undercut the economies and values of both of our states,” Meyer wrote. “Whether it is for work, school or some other purpose, Pennsylvanians and Delawareans depend on this line for quick and efficient travel, to get by and build a better life for themselves and their families.”
Delaware’s two leading Republican senators, Minority Leader Gerald Hocker and Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn, sent the same letter to their counterparts in Pennsylvania’s Senate in late June.
“We recognize that SEPTA is facing challenging financial circumstances,” the letter said, but “cutting essential services will only perpetuate a downward decline.”
Delaware spent $120 million over the last decade to support rail service. The state recently completed a new $90 million project at the Claymont station near the Pennsylvania border that serves SEPTA and Amtrak trains.
Delaware taxpayers invested $90 million in the new Claymont transit center that serves SEPTA and Amtrak trains. (SEPTA)
Delaware also pays SEPTA for rail service. In 2024, the cost was $6.8 million, which was offset by $2.7 million in fare revenue, said C.R. McLeod of the Delaware Department of Transportation.
Delaware also pays Amtrak about $5 million a year so SEPTA can use its tracks, McLeod said.