Lackawanna Cutoff Passenger Service Restoration

Last I heard 4.25 miles of track have been laid on the Cutoff so far. Hopefully they restart work next year.

If they can get train service restored to at least E. Stroudsburg, then I will be happy about that. That is basically all that needs to happen on NJT's part. Yes, traffic can be horrible along 80, 46, 10, and other busy roads. The Stroudsburg are basically like their own metropolitan area and are the largest towns in Monroe County. There's a university there as well. Yes, if any regularly scheduled passenger trains were to ever run to Scranton, Amtrak would be a good idea. First, the state of PA would have to give the approval to Amtrak and probably NJT. Next, as many curves as possible would have to be eliminated north of E. Stroudsburg. It's a very twisty right of way.

why would NJT run service into Pennsylvania ?? anything beyond last NJ station should be paid for by PennDOT and not NJT.

None of this is ever going to happen in our lifetimes. It’s hardly worth even talking about. If they make it to Andover at some point in our lives, we should probably be thrilled.

Maybe they really should activate that Honesale line and people from Scranton could just go there. At least the tracks are in place.

I've ridden the line from Honesdale to Lackawaxen. I think that would take as long as the rest of the trip from there to Hoboken!

As for reactivating Honesdale to Hoboken, in reality, it probably won't ever happen. The ride would take too long. However, what might be nice is that in the future, the Stourbridge Lion runs select trains to Pt. Jervis, connecting with NJT trains there as well as enabling people to explore Pt. Jervis and the Upper Delaware Water Gap region.

Let's put it this way. Driving the roads next to the Honesdale-Port Jervis stretch requires 45 miles. Add in probably 3 stops in between (Hawley, Lackawaxen, Shohola), the service would probably be at least an hour between HON and PTJ, much less the 130 minutes trip between PTJ and HOB. We'd be talking staff working for over 3 hours on one trip.

This has probably been asked and answered over the years, and also I realize it’s much more indirect and slower than the Cutoff and the CNJ respectively, and I’m not sure if this would be time-competitive since it still dumps into the M&E, and I don’t know if the demand is there, and I don’t know if the ROW is available or even intact.

But.

Has NJT ever considered buying the NS Washington Sub and also reactivating the Old Main from Washington to Delaware? You get both Phillipsburg and Delaware Water Gap in one division with less track restoration, not to mention you don’t need to rebuild the expensive Delaware River Bridge.

Honestly, Washington would be better served now if the Hampton Branch via Changewater would've survived being torn out. It's just a long trip via Hackettstown. That said, isn't most of the ROW encroached? I know it is in Delaware and they are not restoring the Manunka Chunk Tunnels.

It's 9.50 miles from Washington to High Bridge and 9.66 miles from Washington to Hackettstown. In those 10 miles (rounded up), you get 3 communities well served, but the price of restoring the Hampton Branch is impossible.

Going from Washington to Phillipsburg would require a full restoration of two tunnels and would be quite expensive.

The vehicular traffic in the Washington area is not too heavy in the morning making a commute by car to either Hackettstown or High Bridge to get a train fairly simple.

I assume you meant to Delaware because Washington to P-burg is basically some extra tracks and station platforms via the Old Old Road.

Regardless, they aren't restoring the Oxford or Manunka Chunk Tunnels. Both are prone to flooding, there is no demand for service that way, and the ROW is gone in Delaware Station.

so first we had 349 pages of cutoff and now we start ** pages of non relevant fantasy schemes not related to cutoff ?? I get it...

It's ridiculous. Spend the coin and get the rest of the system in good repair. Aka get AC line back and more. Why expand the system if the core is rotten?

I wanna hear more about the guys with the weed wackers.

DutchRailnut wrote:so first we had 349 pages of cutoff and now we start ** pages of non relevant fantasy schemes not related to cutoff ?? I get it...

I just wish each post bought one inch of rail, we’d already be at East Stroudsburg

Thanks for the heads up about Manunka Chunk and Oxford. Not worth that particular expense.