page_title: Allentown, Pennsylvania
section_title: Rail
hierarchical_section_title: Allentown, Pennsylvania / Infrastructure / Transportation / Rail
caption_attribution_description: English: Lehigh Valley Railroad station Postcard
context_page_description: Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city and the 233rd largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and it is currently the fastest growing major city in Pennsylvania with an estimated 121,442 residents according to the 2019 census estimate. It is the largest city in the metropolitan area known as the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 821,623 residents as of 2010. Allentown is the county seat of Lehigh County. In 2012, the city celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding in 1762.
  Located on the Lehigh River, Allentown is the largest of three adjacent cities in Northampton and Lehigh counties that make up a region of eastern Pennsylvania known as the Lehigh Valley; the other two cities being Bethlehem, and Easton. Allentown is approximately 60 miles north-northwest of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the United States, 60 miles south-southeast of Scranton and the Wyoming Valley, 80 miles east-northeast of Harrisburg, the state capital, and 75 miles west of New York City, the nation's largest city.
context_section_description: Allentown was once a passenger rail hub, served by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (using the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad), Lehigh and New England Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Reading Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Transit Company and later, Conrail. Routes served Wilkes-Barre and Scranton to the north, Buffalo and Williamsport to the northwest, Reading and Harrisburg to the west, Jersey City and New York City to the east, and Philadelphia to the south.
  Today the Norfolk Southern Railway's Lehigh Line (formerly the main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad using Central Railroad of New Jersey leased trackage in Allentown that was owned by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad), runs through the city heading east across the Delaware River. The Norfolk Southern Railway's Reading Line runs through Allentown heading west to Reading.
  Allentown currently has no passenger rail service (the last service by SEPTA ceased operating in 1979) but one of its two main train stations remains standing. In November 2008, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), along with both Lehigh and Northampton Counties, commissioned a study to explore restoring part of the Black Diamond service (which ran until 1961) by extending the New Jersey Transit's Raritan Valley Line to Allentown.
  Allentown is a regional center for commercial freight rail traffic. Currently, Norfolk Southern's primary hump classification yards are located in Allentown, and the city is also served by the R.J. Corman Railroad Group.
caption: The Lehigh Valley Railroad station. Until the 1950s, the Lehigh Valley Railroad offered 2 hour and 15 minute direct train service to Pennsylvania Station in New York City.
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