Fred M CainThis project has been in an on again, off again, on again, off again state for probably the better part of 30 years. Why do rail projects in the U.S. take so darn long? When projects take this long, supporters tend to finally lose interest in them. The last I knew the Lackawanna Cut Off project was dead again but now it appears as though the Biden Administration wants to revive it. It is in Amtrak's "Long term expansion" plan as others in this thread have pointed out.
Guess who was born and raised in Scranton, PA and still has friends there?
This project has been in an on again, off again, on again, off again state for probably the better part of 30 years. Why do rail projects in the U.S. take so darn long? When projects take this long, supporters tend to finally lose interest in them.
The last I knew the Lackawanna Cut Off project was dead again but now it appears as though the Biden Administration wants to revive it. It is in Amtrak's "Long term expansion" plan as others in this thread have pointed out.
Vern MooreThere is quite an existing commuter base in Scranton and its surrounding area that travels to NYC daily by bus.
https://martzbus.com/customer-notice-nyc-schedule-update-effective-7-3-21/
Note how many of the buses run by this Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre) company only run from the Delaware Water Gap through New Jersey, substantially demonstrating the volume a Manhattan Direct train via a revived Cutoff might be expected to command initially. (One additional such trip has been added effective 7/21) It would be interesting to see comparable schedules for the other services from Scranton.
Actually Scranton's ties to NYC are strong, historic and growing stronger as Scranton is becoming the hub for distribution by all sorts of major retailers into the NYC/Tri-State area.
There is quite an existing commuter base in Scranton and its surrounding area that travels to NYC daily by bus. A legacy of DL&W's excellent passenger service and the ties forged by DL&W's operations to/from NYC being based in Scranton, perhaps.
Scranton - Philly commuting is not any sort of travel market besides weekends and the Wilkes-Barre - Philly market is also as non-existant. The PA Turnpike Commission works hard to make easy travel from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) unaffordable, with tolls for that trip continuously climbing.
However in a few years it might be cheaper to take a train for a trip to Philly than driving and it will be economically viable for rail service in the WBS/Philly market.
NY-Scranton may be a harder sell in PA. They might not want to contribute, and let NJT run to the border. There is talk of restarting Phily-Reading, and then R&N is talking about going from there to Scranton. It might not be viable, but it may be politically attractive to keep Scranton oriented to Phily, PA.
Scranton is a recent 'improvement'; the original plan was primarily NJT and would only go as far as Stroudsburg if there were Pennsylvanian buy-in north of the Delaware crossing. The potential market is in all the communities now within easy commuting distance of New York via Manhattan Direct -- this was an actual priority plan in the days before the ARC tunnel was stopped.
Aside from the Biden incentives, Amtrak sponsorship makes it easy to get the full bi-state operation, now carried through areas that were increasingly congested by road. One can anticipate quite a bit of development in 'bedroom communities' or even PUDs with access east to the New York area.
The case for 'Amtrak' sponsorship of trains to Easton to link the ABE area, as we were discussing a few weeks ago, is a bit less certain. The track spacing on much of that line is like something out of the 1870s, but it did run right to the river within my memory and running a couple of miles and perhaps stops west of the Delaware into Pennsylvania might produce considerable traffic on those Amtrak trains that would run past current end of the line for NJT at High Bridge.
I have yet to hear why serving Scranton, PA from New York City is so important or what the annual ridership will be on the line after Amtrak brings it back from the dead.....or for that matter total cost of the project?
At any rate, for those with an interest.............this guy has created a virtual, college course, on the Lackawanna Cut-Off
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