LEWISTOWN — Despite potential hurdles, the Bureau of Rail, Freight, Ports and Waterways believes the scheduled improvements at the Lewistown Junction Train Station are still on track.

According to its website, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Railway are working together to support the modification and expansion of the state-supported Pennsylvanian service between Pittsburgh and New York City from one to two daily trains in each direction.

In order to mitigate train delays that would result from increasing the frequency of the Pennsylvanian service, Norfolk Southern will construct a set of 11 infrastructure projects along the Norfolk Southern-owned rail between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh that will improve operational reliability for both passenger and freight trains on the shared corridor.

A press release from the bureau stated the bulk of work will be adding capacity and improving routing flexibility in the Harrisburg and Altoona areas, where train congestion impacts passenger rail service the most. Additional crossovers will be constructed at key locations to allow train passes and manage operating passenger trains due to many stations only having one platform.

The complete set of projects are expected to be completed by 2030. Interlocking upgrades are scheduled for installation in Mifflin County.

A new passenger waiting platform is being built at the Huntingdon Amtrak station. A new passenger waiting shelter is in the works. When the new Amtrak expanded service timetable takes effect, new state-of-the-art trains featuring the Airo model will come with it.