Lackawanna Cutoff Passenger Service Restoration

TSTOM wrote:Matt -

The city wasn't exactly thriving when I was in the area but has it gone downhill since?

Since 'when' were you in the area ? I need a time reference.

I was around for the 2000 - 2010 decade. I remember taking the job in the Poconos in 2000 and hearing talk of the train to Scranton that was about to start running! I wonder if real estate agents are still using that line.

Mod Note:

Keep to the topic or with in the bounds of the topic please. This is not the place to discus world politics or gas guzzling vehicles.

How much money would it take to get the line active to scranton realistically?

It was around $551 million in the 2000's.

That is a lot of money for potentially not a lot of passengers............

I'm beginning to think that service to binghamton using amtrak to operate the trains is more realistic than a commuter line to scranton if it involves this much moolah....

25Hz wrote:That is a lot of money for potentially not a lot of passengers............

and it will probably be double that amount de to inflation and PTC requirement.

Dutch -

and it will probably be double that amount de to inflation and PTC requirement.

Counting Roseville tunnel, and the 2 huge bridges plus all that goes into ROW prep, culverts, grade cossings, signaling, ribbon rail, ties and stone ballast....my conservative guess would be somewhere north of $2 BILLION !

Ain't gonna happen in my lifetime....

My guess is 1.8-3.5 billion all in with the line up and running fully scheduled.

Perhaps it's worth looking at electrification to the delaware viaduct.... it wouldn't be THAT much more on top (or would it?).

All said and done, PA needs to chip in with this project or i don't see it crossing the river, let alone past the unused spur they have built now.

Matt Johnson wrote: I was around for the 2000 - 2010 decade. I remember taking the job in the Poconos in 2000 and hearing talk of the train to Scranton that was about to start running!

I was working Dover, NJ in 1977, and hearing railfan railroaders talking about service to Scranton being restored. At that time we still sent the former EL u-boats to Scranton for periodic inspections. I also worked UN tower in Port Morris, and the tower at East Stroudsburg was still open.

At the very least money should be earmarked for the portion to East Stroudsburg. Beyond that PA can pay for the bill to Scranton and hammer out an operating agreement should they want to go to Scranton.

NJTRailfan wrote:At the very least money should be earmarked for the portion to East Stroudsburg. Beyond that PA can pay for the bill to Scranton and hammer out an operating agreement should they want to go to Scranton.

Enter the core problem of this route. It was built for trains going much farther west than scranton. This line has very few stations per mile of track, because the idea was to get through NJ as fast as possible. It was not built as a commuter line, but an intercity line. To put stations in woud mean huge earthmoving projects and road construction just to make space on the fill or cut.

This is why i said service to binghamton would make more sense than scranton, because you'd actually be serving a market that currently has to drive a ways to get to the port jervis line. In pennsylvania there are also efforts to get service restored from philadelphia north. If these two connected, it woud be a much bigger impact on travel options than one alone.

I don't see anything happening past andover till PA puts reviving its former passenger routes along the delaware river border counties as a priority.

Any ideas here are basically moot. It will never get done.Period. Not a pessimist, I'm a realist.

CNJ Fan 4evr wrote:Any ideas here are basically moot. It will never get done.Period. Not a pessimist, I'm a realist.

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Passenger service on these lines was discontinued because of dwindling ridership. This isn't the early 20th Century.