PA: Amtrak's Keystone line, connecting NYC, Philly, and Harrisburg, may get axed under SEPTA cuts

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle warned Monday that planned SEPTA cuts could force Amtrak to cut the Keystone Service line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg.

The line, which continues on from Philadelphia to Manhattan, would also mean fewer trains operating from Philadelphia to New York City.

Boyle said Amtrak president Roger Harris told him last week the railroad could lose $71.1 million in annual payments from SEPTA because of a delay in state operating funds for the transit agency.

If that happens, the Keystone Service line will "cease to exist," Boyle said.

SEPTA pays for the right to operate five Regional Rail commuter trains on the Amtrak-owned Northeast Corridor, which includes the track between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.

It plans to eliminate those lines in January if new state money is not on the way by then. The Paoli- Thorndale line shares the Keystone's route.

The transit agency's payment also purchases electricity, generated by Amtrak, to power commuter trains along those tracks, and pays for some capital projects.

"The potential reduction in SEPTA's financial contribution will have a negative impact on Amtrak's ability to reinvest in the rail network," the national passenger railroad said in a statement Tuesday. "This could lead to a deterioration in infrastructure condition and authorized train operating speeds."

The statement did not say the Keystone Service would disappear as a result. But Amtrak said deteriorating infrastructure would have a negative impact on the Keystone Service, as well as the Pennsylvanian, a less frequent daily train that runs between New York and Pittsburgh.

The Keystone runs multiple trips a day between New York's Penn Station and Harrisburg, via 30th Street Station. In 2024, it carried about 1.3 million passengers, according to Amtrak.

" Roger Harris made very clear to me there is no additional funding from Amtrak to make up for these missing funds," Boyle said. "I think it's fair to say [this is] now at a crisis level, and directly impacts all of us who live in Philadelphia and in the surrounding Philadelphia area."

"SEPTA does not know how the elimination of Regional Rail service on Amtrak-owned lines will impact Keystone line service," SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said in a statement.

"We understand that Amtrak will have to make decisions in the coming weeks whether to pause or postpone infrastructure projects on the Keystone line in response to the planned elimination of SEPTA's lease payments on Jan. 1," Busch said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contributes about $8 million a year to subsidize the Keystone line, drawn from the Multimodal Fund and the Public Transportation Trust Fund.

Amtrak operates a number of lines around the U.S. in partnership with state transportation departments.

The Keystone Service line is also the train the lawmakers who are currently debating SEPTA funding take from the southeastern part of the state to Harrisburg.

Boyle said there has been no determination on when the line would cease to operate.

Members of Congress representing Southeastern Pennsylvania have largely stood on the sidelines, offering statements urging legislators in Harrisburg to fund the beleaguered agency but with limited power to affect the situation. Boyle said the issue had reached a "crisis level" but remained Harrisburg's problem to solve, not Washington's.

Boyle, whose district spans parts of Center City and all of Northeast Philadelphia, noted Congress delivered record federal funding to SEPTA for capital improvements as part of the 2021 infrastructure bill.

Pennsylvania's funding stalemate comes as President Donald Trump's White House has cut some funding for transit and infrastructure projects nationwide, making the likelihood of any bailout from the Republican-controlled Congress slim.

Boyle, a Democrat who previously served in Pennsylvania's House of Representatives, castigated Republicans in Harrisburg, saying transit agencies in other cities, including Boston, Chicago, and New York, get much more state funding. All three cities are in Democratic-controlled states.

Pennsylvania has a split statehouse and a rural-urban divide contributing to the impasse.

Senate Republicans — who passed a bill last week proposing to fund SEPTA for two years by using capital funding, a move Democrats opposed — have defended their plan and accused Democrats of manufacturing a crisis.

"The transit 'crisis' is not real. SEPTA's 'death spiral' talk is holding Pennsylvanians hostage," Senate GOP leader Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) said on X. "The Senate passed legislation to provide immediate, existing, available funds."

But Boyle on Monday pointed the finger back at the GOP.

"This is a problem that leaders in Harrisburg have ignored for years, and let's be honest, this is also a victim of politics," Boyle said. "Too many Republicans in Pennsylvania love to beat up on the Philadelphia area. They take tax revenue from the city of Philadelphia and from the suburbs ... and then they turn around and fail to make the proper investments that are needed in SEPTA."