Reading and Northern Railroad finalized an agreement Friday to bring back passenger trains to Tamaqua’s 146-year-old train station including the building of a new passenger platform.

Andy Muller Jr., CEO of the Reading and Northern Railroad, met with members of Tamaqua Council, Sen. David Argall, and his staff Friday morning at the Tamaqua train station. Muller and his family arrived by train to celebrate the event.

Earlier this year, the borough voted to join with the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad to construct a concourse deck, or platform, enabling visitors and tourists to easily disembark train coaches at Tamaqua’s 1874 Philadelphia and Reading Railroad depot.

The planned platform in Tamaqua will upgrade the current situation, which requires train visitors to step 10 inches high in front of the depot in order to access the sidewalk, too high a climb for youngsters and the elderly.

The platform in front of the station is being installed through a public-private partnership between the borough of Tamaqua and the Reading and Northern Railroad. The railroad will be doing all the construction.

The borough would pay $36,000 toward the $51,000 project. Some private donations are also going to the cost.

The borough will place an initial deposit of $20,000 to start the project and agrees that the remaining balance will be paid at a minimum of $4,000 per year for the next four years, if not paid sooner.

Construction will begin this spring, with the first train rides offered in time for Tamaqua’s Summerfest on Father’s Day, June 21.

Following Summerfest, the railroad will host several “ride and dine” trips from the Railroad’s new Reading Outer Station to Tamaqua with its rail diesel cars. The trains will leave Reading midafternoon and detrain at the new Tamaqua train station platform, where guests will dine at a local restaurant.

The Santa Claus Special train will run during the Christmas season. Santa train trips will depart the station at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. for the first Santa trains hosted by Tamaqua in over two years.