Mount Joy, PA (MJY)

The station is located a block south of Main Street, noted for its shops and restaurants. Rail service to Mount Joy began in 1836, with the line extended west to the state capital at Harrisburg two years later.

25 South Market Street
Mount Joy, PA 17552

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2023): $538,437
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2023): 24,877

Ownerships
Routes Served
Contact
Local Community Links

Facility Ownership: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)
Parking Lot Ownership: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)
Platform Ownership: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)
Track Ownership: Amtrak

Keystone Service

Jane Brophy
Regional Contact
governmentaffairsnyc@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Rail passengers at Mount Joy use a newly renovated station facility that opened in October 2019. The three-year, $30.5 million project included installation of a new overhead pedestrian bridge, two 500-foot-long high-level platforms with canopies, lighting, stairways, additional parking and accessibility improvements such as elevators between the platforms and street. Crews also undertook work to stabilize the slopes on either side of the tracks and improve stormwater management. PennDOT led the project and provided funding, with additional monies contributed by the Federal Transit Administration.

The high-level platforms, which are level with the thresholds of the train car doors, make it easier for customers to board and alight. The new facility replaced small shelters located on low level platforms. An earlier phase of improvements, completed in 2012, included streetscaping, creation of parking spaces and construction of a covered walkway between the parking lot and station.

Designed by the firm of Michael Baker, Inc., the new station includes elements that reference the Victorian and other 19^th century architecture found in downtown Mount Joy. This is particularly noticeable in the towers on either side of the tracks that link to the pedestrian overpass and house the elevators connecting the street and track levels.

Sporting hipped roofs, the two towers are clad in variegated stone veneer from their base to about two-thirds of the way up, where the material transitions to red brick. On the facades facing the tracks, large expanses of glass are interpreted as oversized pairs of tall, narrow round arch windows that recall the fashionable Italianate and Renaissance Revival architecture of the mid-19^th century. They are capped with a round arch tympanum inset with a circular panel that shows the image of a sailing ship – the Mountjoy – that gave the community its name.

The Mount Joy Borough views the station as a key component in a larger downtown revitalization plan focused on Main Street, located one block to the north and known for its shops and restaurants. Delta Street, which directly connects the Main Street commercial corridor with the station, was redesigned with new pavement and a covered walkway to encourage pedestrian traffic and create a strong visual link between the two activity areas.

The station improvements build on an earlier partnership between Amtrak and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to enhance the 104-mile rail line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Between 2004 and 2006, the line, known as the Keystone Corridor, was upgraded to allow for all-electric train service, top speeds of 110 mph and added train frequencies. To accomplish these goals, the electric system to power the trains was replaced and continuous welded rail and concrete ties were installed.

Scotch-Irish settlers came to the area now known as Mount Joy in the early 18^th century. They named their new community after the Mountjoy, a supply ship that was part of a trio sent by English King William III to Londonderry in northern Ireland in 1689. The fleet’s mission was to relieve Scottish Presbyterian forces under siege by Catholic forces led by the recently deposed English King James II. Other places around Mount Joy still bear names that commemorate events and people important to the original Scotch-Irish settlers, who were later joined by large groups of German immigrants.

Mount Joy Township was established in 1759, and Mount Joy Borough created in 1851. Construction of the Lancaster, Elizabethtown and Middletown Turnpike and the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy & Lancaster Railroad spurred population and business growth in the area. The railroad began service between Mount Joy and Lancaster in 1836, with service extended west to the state capital at Harrisburg in 1838. The line would later be incorporated into the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which served the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic and became an admired and dominant American corporation by the early 20^th century.

The railroad originally ran north of Main Street and a station was established in a hotel at Main and Barbara Streets a few blocks northeast of the current Amtrak facility. A new, larger wood frame passenger and freight depot was erected in 1876. Nearby businesses included a flour mill and malting, shoe, dinnerware and farm equipment factories.

By the end of the century, the PRR had begun a series of infrastructure improvements that included constructing new masonry viaducts and bridges and straightening out tight curves and eliminating congested grade crossings that caused trains to have to slow. In Mount Joy, the PRR decided to straighten the line, relocating the railroad south of Main Street and placing it in a cut that separated it from street traffic above. As part of this effort, a new brick and wood depot opened at the site of the current Amtrak facility in 1896. In addition to a passenger waiting room, it had living quarters for the station agent on the second floor; it stood until demolished in 1976.

The Keystone Service is financed in part through funds made available by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Image courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.