This Bucks County train station could get elevators and more as part of $61 million renovation

Cornwells Heights Station in Bucks County is expected to get a makeover in the coming years.

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration announced on Monday a $30.5 million investment in the station which is intended to improve accessibility and safety at the station and could improve boarding and reduce dwell times.

The Cornwells Heights project is one of 25 projects focused on passenger rail that were selected to receive a total of $16.4 billion in federal funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The projects are intended to improve travel on the Northeast Corridor which runs from Boston to Washington, and is the busiest route for travelers in the country with hundreds of thousands of daily riders, according to the DOT. The Cornwells Heights Station renovation project is the single project in Pennsylvania receiving funding from this round of projects awarded in the program.

“These investments will make our busiest passenger railroad safer, faster, and more reliable, which means fewer delays and shorter commutes for the 800,000 passengers who rely on the Northeast Corridor every day,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a statement.

The renovation at Cornwells would include new 600-foot high platforms and a new pedestrian overpass with elevators.

The renovation will also move the station closer to the parking lot, removing the need for a shuttle service that SEPTA contracts. That improvement would save the agency around $500,000 per year, according to Andrew Busch, SEPTA spokesperson.

An estimated 2,500 people on an average use the station on a typical weekday, according to Busch. It is serviced by SEPTA Regional Rail’s Trenton Line and some Amtrak Keystone Line trains. Several other Amtrak trains travel through the station without stopping there.

Design for the project began this summer, and construction is expected to break ground in early 2026, Busch said. The project could be completed by late 2028.

The project is expected to cost around $61,000,000, with $30,500,000 secured from the federal and state partnership and $244,000 from Amtrak, according to a press release from the Department of Transportation.

As part of the ongoing reconstruction of I-95, PennDOT and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission have allocated an additional $13,109,000 in federal highway funds for SEPTA to use on the Cornwells station improvements because the project could help mitigate congestion on the I-95 corridor and provide more options for travelers, according to Busch.

SEPTA would provide the remainder of the funding through the agency’s capital budget, which is used for construction, maintenance, new vehicle purchases and other infrastructure needs, according to Busch. SEPTA anticipates facing an operating budget financial deficit starting next year, but the agency’s capital budget cannot be put towards its operating expenses, which are funded separately.