The Schuylkill River Passenger Train Authority voted earlier this week to solicit consultant proposals to prepare plans for the restoration of Reading to Philadelphia passenger rail service, writes Holly Herman for the Phoenixville Patch. 

According to Thomas E. Frawley, the executive director, the authority received a $750,000 federal grant it can use for the development of the passenger train project. 

He said that the Federal Railroad authority recommended that the development plan for the project should be created before a decision is made on the authority’s application to take part in a federal corridor train transportation program. 

The authority is made up of representatives from Chester, Montgomery, and Berks counties who are working together to secure funding from the federal government and other contracts to restore passenger train service. 

The authority expects to learn in September if its Federal Rail Administration Corridor Identification and Development Program application has been accepted. The intercity passenger rail that is the subject of the application would have stops in Reading, Pottstown, Phoenixville, Philadelphia, and New York. 

Read more about the Schuylkill River Passenger Train Authority in the Phoenixville Patch.