https://www.mcall.com/2024/03/27/the-long-awaited-lehigh-valley-passenger-rail-report-arrives-today/?fbclid=IwAR2bKdjntxzu9ab8zyNGz1I8xs2OkIthQB7Mm4C41vejAjFLTnkcEasril4
Hard to believe something with this budget and timeframe... and about half a year 'late' at that... would have gotten to the point of recommending 5 route alternatives without even once talking to the railroads or transportation authorities concerned! Perhaps they're assuming that Amtrak will be the operating entity for the interstate version of the service (from Allentown, in Pennsylvania, through New Jersey to New York) and think that Amtrak has the ability to get running permission by ukase.
I'd be tempted to have Reading work out the service leg from Reading to Allentown, with connection to service via High Bridge (even if that does involve a large tunnel under the I-78 embankment and convoluted (to say the least!) routing for the Raritan Valley track west of High Bridge station.
Several of the proposed routings require considerable 'rail trail' mileage to be relaid. It would be interesting to see whether Andy Muller and some of his decidedly interesting operating options might be used for the ABE-to-Philadelphia service... plandampf with a T-1, perhaps???
If the current population is still sufficient, it looks like a good corridor.
It's been a 'good corridor' all along; in fact I would argue that it's actually three separate corridors essentially treating ABE as a 'hub', each having its own prospects for community support and financing.
I continue to think that the 'first best option' is to extend the Raritan Valley trains into Pennsylvania, but those are NJT. Technically the Manhattan Direct services are already 'interstate' but they are or were severely restricted in number.
The Raritan Valley line is also notably restricted in clearance, particularly track centers. It's a very old line and the grading shows... it is also cut twice by I-78, at least one of which involves an enormous fill which might not be amenable to box-jacking tunnel construction.
The Hackettstown route is how I suspect any 'Amtrak' service would be routed. I suspect there is at least the possibility that this route converges with the proposed ex-Lackawanna Cutoff service to Scranton and that might assist 'combined' access to Penn Station or through-running opportunities.
Reading - ABE is its own standalone thing with its own rationale, even if you operated it with FLIRTs.
Reading & Blue Mountain was discussing at one point running RDC service into Philadelphia, so the amount of subsidy from ABE into some likely Philadelphia-area point (it might not have to involve a one-seat ride to 30th St.) might be comparatively little to 'prove' the service or even increase density if it starts becoming popular.
I do not know if there is the same potential for ridership 'explosion' there is for the Stroudsburg route. Until you see how many buses stack up in the morning 'just over the line into New Jersey' -- many of which are Martz Trailways, which I remember as a Pennsylvania (and more specifically a Wilkes-Barre) company, you might not appreciate that the demand for even 79mph service through to Manhattan is already substantial.
OvermodReading - ABE is its own standalone thing with its own rationale, even if you operated it with FLIRTs.
I'd rather they'd make 222 a limited access highway on that one stretch between temple and kutztown. So annoying.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
zugmannI'd rather they'd make 222 a limited access highway on that one stretch between Temple and Kutztown. So annoying.
OvermodThat's a whole separate incentive! But I couldn't agree with you more. (And I've only driven it twice...)
The roundabouts they added the past few years really help.
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