Solicitation still in works to seek purchase offers for Luzerne County rail line

Luzerne County’s Redevelopment Authority is finalizing a contract with Trenton, N.J.-based Strauss & Associates/Planners to help value the county rail line assets and prepare a public request seeking offers to buy or lease the line, Authority Board Chairman Scott Linde said Tuesday.

Linde said the authority needs expert assistance, and details will be released when a contract is completed. At this point, he does not expect the authority to be in a position to issue a request for proposals until early 2026.

“I think we’re making headway to work with the county to try to get a mutually acceptable resolution to proceed and some movement,” Linde said, speaking at the end of the authority board’s monthly meeting.

The board of the authority, which owns the rail line, voted last month to authorize staff to prepare a valuation. Linde had said a valuation will define the assets for potential sale or lease.

Reading & Northern Railroad Chairman and CEO Andy M. Muller Jr. made an unsolicited offer to pay $10 million to buy the line, saying he will increase freight service and add passenger train excursions from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston. These are not commuter routes, but they would connect Wilkes-Barre to popular tourism train rides, such as existing excursions Reading & Northern operates from Pittston to historic Jim Thorpe.

Although initially resistant to non-public rail ownership, authority representatives decided offers should be considered, but only in a public process open to all interested entities.

The approximately 55-mile county rail line passes through the Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, and Hanover Township areas.

Following Tuesday’s meeting, the board met in closed-door executive session to discuss pending litigation and real estate matters.

A county council-authorized suit filed against the authority in July is now in the discovery phase.

The suit seeks court appointment of an oversight receiver or a declaration that the $3.28 million the county loaned to the authority is immediately due. The county suit is also against the nonprofit Rail Corp., which maintains a lease agreement with the rail operator, R.J. Corman Railroad Group.

The authority and Rail Corp. have argued there is no breach of contract to litigate because the authority has until October 2026 to repay the county.

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 excursions while retaining and building commercial use.

Linde said Tuesday the valuation of rail line is complex because a portion — he estimates as much as half — is no longer active and operable.

One example came up during Tuesday’s meeting in a report from railroad consultant Joseph White, who inspected a portion of county rail property that runs behind residential structures on Jean Street in Exeter and along the perimeter of coal mine-scarred land owned by Pagnotti Enterprises.

The Pagnotti property, known locally as the “Black Desert,” is adjacent to the Fox Hill Country Club and has been proposed as a possible residential development site.

That potential development prompted the authority to ask White to document the adjacent authority property for informational purposes.

White said the authority-owned property was a former Lehigh Valley Railroad spur that once serviced the Exeter Lehigh Valley Colliery and a plywood distribution center. It contains 1,911 feet of rail that has scrap value, White said, adding that about half the existing rail is buried under coal, culm, debris, yard clippings, and vegetation.

Authority Executive Director Margaret Thomas said the spur was officially declared abandoned by Conrail in the 1980s.