The grass roots effort to restore passenger service on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Rail line is 100% volunteer run, led by George Nikanorov and Keith Smollin. Originally, the two individuals owned separate Facebook groups and pages pertaining to effort to restore the line. With recognition by local media of the Facebook page, and the call by this small group to restore the service, George and Keith joined forces to consolidate, build on the success and unify their call to action.
Overall, the goal of this volunteer group is to have passenger service restored on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Line either north from Vernon NJ, going through Warwick, NY, connecting to the Metro North Port Jervis Line, or south, going through several towns in Sussex, Northern Passaic, and Bergen Counties and connecting to the New Jersey Transit Bergen Line.
- New Jersey Transit institutes rail service based on plan outlined in 1996 and amended with other studies.
- Metro North institutes rail service in Northern portion of NYS&W and connects with Port Jervis Line
- Amtrak could run a regional service
- NYS&W could run a private for-profit service
- Towns along the NYS&W could establish a transit authority and hire another entity to run service
- A private not-for-profit commuter club could be established, which could hire an entity to run the service
