The realization of the long discussed passenger train service from the Poconos to New York is closer than many might have thought.

Quietly, work has been underway to replace miles of missing rail tracks and last week Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration announced two new grants for the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

One, a $630,000 grant to install 9,000 new ties on the Carbondale mainline track and the other, a $690,900 award to repair the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad Bridge over the west branch of the Lehigh River, including wing wall and back wall restoration, bridge seat cleaning, resurfacing and the re-establishment of original bridge elevation.

“We’re getting closer,” said Attorney Lawrence C. Malski, president of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

“We’ve already been doing bridge rehabilitation on the Pocono mainline, upgrading the bridges. The biggest hurdle for 25 years has been putting back the missing rail and we are thrilled that we’ve been able to get these grants,” he said.

Getting closer doesn’t mean that local residents will see a train in the next couple of years, however, after decades of proposals, discussions and setbacks, a passenger railroad is finally on the horizon.

The restoration of the Lackawanna Cut-Off Line has already begun across the Delaware River, with 7.3 miles of track being laid to a new New Jersey Transit station to be constructed in Andover Township in Sussex County.

It’s projected that the work there will be completed by the end of next year, Malski said, noting that New Jersey Transit is spending about $62 million from federal and state grants to rebuild that leg of the railroad.

A proposed 27-mile addition would run through Monroe County and connect with the line at the Slateford Junction in Warren County. A mapped proposal in 2014 showed stations in Tobyhanna, Pocono Mountain, Analomink, East Stroudsburg and Delaware Water Gap.

“We’re working closely with Congressman Matt Cartwright [D-Pa.] to do the next step,” Malski said on Friday.

“Every week, my staff and I work on improving the rail infrastructure of northeastern Pennsylvania. The reason for it should be obvious to the most casual observer, the more connected we are the better our economy will grow,” Cartwright said.

“It’s no secret that my vision for northeastern Pennsylvania’s future includes having passenger rail access to metropolitan New York City. This is an extraordinarily difficult and lengthy project, but the benefits that our region could reap from these efforts are gigantic and they easily justify the work we are putting in,” he said.

Last fall, Cartwright spoke favorably of the project and his belief that a line would benefit the “growing congestion” of Interstates 80 and 280, the area’s tourism rates, the environment and the cost of transportation projects.

Additionally, State Senator John Blake emphasized the region’s overall interest in the project, saying there are over 20,000 eastern Pennsylvania residents commuting to northern New Jersey and New York daily.

“Roadway congestion and truck traffic on Interstate 80 and the rest of the northeast corridor are at an all-time high, and it’s really not going down,” Blake said.

Blake compared the region’s need for better and safer connection with the larger metropolitan area to that of Portland, Maine’s.

He cited how impactful a transit line from the town of 65,000 to the Boston area was for both communities. “I believe that there is a greater economic potential if we took a connection between northeast Pennsylvania and New York City, which has five times the population as Boston,” Blake said.

The entire project, with most recent estimates putting the price tag at as much as $1 billion, has been in the works for more than two decades.

Train service that took passengers from Scranton to New York came to an end at the beginning of 1970 and various local and state officials have since sought to bring it back.

Cartwright has led that charge, Malski said.

“Our biggest impetus, biggest supporter is Cartwright and this has been his priority and that’s what we need right now in Washington,” he said.

“The project is now in the federal government’s eyesight. It’s on the drawing board and that puts us in line to get it done. The money is coming in and we’re continuing to work. We’re now working on trying to secure a grant for 21 miles of track and once that happens, service will come into Pennsylvania.”