• Binghamton NY - New York City NYC Passenger Rail Discussion

  • General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.

Moderators: mtuandrew, gprimr1

  by henry6
 
Actually the survey was done in Corning/Steuben Co. which is about 60 mi west of Broome but omitted the Elmira/Chemung Co. area. So Binghamton/Broome and Corning/Steuben were the two population centers surveyed while Owego/Tioga Co., Waverly/Tioga-Chemung Cos., Sayre-Athens/Pennsylvania, and Elmira/Chemung Co were not surveyed. Therefore the inferred conclusion was that it was not feasable to even think of running a train west of BInghamotn because there was no one there.
  by kemay59
 
Take The Train To NYC?

Story Updated: Nov 28, 2007 at 5:42 PM EST
By Erik Burling, WBNG-TV 12

You can not get there by plane or train. The automobile is the only way to get to New York City. Senator Charles Schumer is pushing to connect Greater Binghamton and the Big Apple by commuter train. These travelers are waiting to board a bus in Binghamton bound for New York City. But many say they would just as easily take a train. "I think it would be great if we had a passenger train that went to New York. I love to take the train," says Joe Zell of Binghamton.

[snip- read the rest of the story here: http://www.wbng.com/news/local/11895686.html - omv]

  by ricebrianrice
 
I would love to see it, but .....

I am not going to hold my breath.

  by Dieter
 
Politics of THREE STATES comes into play. The Erie line is too slow, it would have to go through Wilkes Barre, Scranton and shoot out across New Jersey on a reconstructed Lackawanna Cutoff. Everybody would want in on the action, making it necessary for a high speed train to make it all practical, opening a whole new can of worms.

Do we really need it? YES WE DO. Now, who's going to figure it out? Schumer can't do it alone.

D/

  by Otto Vondrak
 
Money can make anything happen. A more viable route would have Buffalo as an ultimate terminus to give connections to the rest of the system (and Canada).

-otto-
  by kemay59
 
WITH BINGHAMTON AREA IN NEED OF SPEEDY, RELIABLE TRANSPORTATION TO NEW YORK CITY, SCHUMER URGES AMTRAK TO STUDY BINGHAMTON-SCRANTON TRAIN LINE TO CONNECT SOUTHERN TIER TO NEW YORK CITY

Binghamton Area Currently Lacks Air and Train Routes to New York City Metropolitan Region

With Scranton-Hoboken Line Moving Forward, Expanding Rail Service from Scranton to Binghamton Would Provide Vital Link to New York City and Profoundly Impact Economic Development in the Region

Today, Schumer Calls on NYSDOT and Amtrak to Conduct Feasibility Study for Passenger Rail Service Along the Interstate 81 Rail Corridor

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to get Amtrak to conduct a feasibility study for a passenger rail service to connect Binghamton, New York, and Scranton, Pennsylvania along the Interstate 81 rail corridor. The project would provide a direct link to New York City for Binghamton area residents, affording them an important new transportation option, as well as boosting economic development. The Binghamton area currently lacks direct air and train service to New York City.

“Establishing a rail link between Binghamton and New York City is a win-win that holds tremendous potential to boost economic development in the Southern Tier,” said Schumer. “Besides giving Binghamton residents vital new transportation option, it would also allow New York City businesses to more effectively tap into the regions first-class labor pool for new development opportunities. A feasibility study is the essential first step to make this idea a reality.”

In a letter to NYSDOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn and Amtrak CEO Alexander Kummant, Schumer today urged the company to conduct a feasibility study that analyzes the costs and benefits of passenger service and documents commuter patterns. The scope of the study is intended to compliment the Binghamton Based Intercity Rail Passenger Study submitted to New York State Department of Transportation in 2002. Once the state requests this study, Amtrak can move forward with the project using existing funds already budgeted for this purpose.

Schumer stressed that an existing joint Pennsylvania-New Jersey effort to return commuter based service between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Hoboken, New Jersey, known as the New Jersey-Pennsylvania Lackawanna Cutoff Rail Restoration, holds the potential to create a rail link from Binghamton to New York City, via Scranton and Hoboken. The Lackawanna Cutoff Project will connect with existing New Jersey Transit Lines leading into New York City. The Binghamton-Scranton line would hook up to the Lackawanna Cutoff Project once it is completed for access to New York City, complementing this project by providing even more access for riders.

This passenger rail expansion would provide countless benefits to Binghamton residents who would take advantage of this new service to ultimately gain access to New York City by way of Scranton and Hoboken. Additionally, with this new service, more business and leisure travelers from New York City would be able to access the many assets—from academic facilities to businesses and cultural opportunities—that Binghamton has to offer, and tap into the local economy for new economic development opportunities.

“We all firmly believe that rail service connecting the Greater Binghamton area to the New York City area would have a positive impact on our community,” said Broome County Executive Barbara J. Fiala. “At this stage of the game, however, it is important that we get data to back up our beliefs and therefore I want to thank Senator Schumer for encouraging Amtrak and New York State Department of Transportation to conduct this feasibility study. It will provide an important benchmark in our efforts to develop passenger train service to New York City.”

A rail line connecting Binghamton and New York City is especially crucial in the wake of the Delta Airlines decision in July of this year to terminate its air service at the Greater Binghamton Airport, despite ridership spiking 43% over the past year. This decision axed the direct Binghamton-JFK flight and has left potential New York City commuters with no way to easily access the Southern Tier.

News Release from Senator Schumer's office dated November 28, 2007

  by bwparker1
 
Looks like Ithaca to NYC (La Guardia) is the best flight option that is available now for people in Binghamton trying to get to NYC.

Brooks

  by TB Diamond
 
Back in the mid-1970s this service was proposed, but never came about account, you guessed it, no money. Have the clipping from the Binghamton paper in my files.

  by Otto Vondrak
 
Money is what it comes down to. The Lackawanna Cutoff (the main link for this new proposed service) is being held up because PA hasn't decided how they are going to fund it. NJ is ready to go. If NY showed up with some bags of cash, it might pressue PA to act. But who knows.

Binghamton and the Southern Tier need mobility options.

-otto-

  by O-6-O
 
Oh goody more study!! How much you wanna bet Chuckie has some buds
in the consulting biz? Vital? Economic developement? Same old pap.
Amtrak and DOT on the job again. Hmmm makes me feel all warm a fuzzy inside. Did anybody call CP to get their take? Hey Chuck, great idea.
Why don't you warm up with lets say........ a bridge over Park St. Piece
a cake right?

  by Dieter
 
It's going on over a dozen years now since somebody told me PA was pouring foundations for new stations on that line. You have to admit that this has been going on for so long between PA/NJ that to tie in Binghamton is practically a doltish afterthought. IN fact, to a bureaucrat fighting for ultimate control, the scenario of three States running such an operation is a nightmare.

It's not just money, but POLITICS. Everybody wants to take credit, public interest be damned or it would have been done when even the people in the trenches like us, realized it was the RIGHT THING TO DO. This is a classic case like one I grew up with; construction of a bridge connecting two Canadian Provinces was an impossibility until BOTH sides were under administration by the same political party.

Remember when we heard rumblings about MN going past Port Jervis to Binghamton? SHINGO! Single entity control! Why else would anybody consider "The Snail Way"?

Until New Jersey gets serious and you hear about reconstruction of The Cutoff actually being initiated, Binghamtonians are stuck with the bus.

D/

  by scottychaos
 
What is the issue with the cutoff?
what needs to be done to it?

im not very familiar with that area..

(this is the DL&W mainline right?)

thanks,
Scot

  by Ken S.
 
It has to be completely rebuilt. Conrail tore it up in the 1980s.

  by bwparker1
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lackawanna_Cutoff

My question is, wouldn't there be benefit to NJ is they built their portion now, and could offer semi-high speed service Hoboken for the areas along the Cut-off? The big deal, I believe, is that the Cut-Off is engineered so that there are few, if any grade crossings.

Why does PA have to be on board for NJ to move forward if NJ has funding in place?

Brooks
Last edited by bwparker1 on Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

  by Otto Vondrak
 
LOL - Here's the thread from NJT Rail Forum on the restoration...

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1580

This may all be a bunch of political jabber, but when some money shows up to the table, see how quickly things happen. Until then, it's just jabber.

-otto-
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