Lackawanna Cutoff Passenger Service Restoration

Winner winner chicken dinner^^^^

@photobug56 That’s putting it lightly!

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:57 am @photobug56 That’s putting it lightly!

There was a time going back several years when they were very responsive to questions on LC, plus seemed to have a decent operation overall. Then came, Sandy I think, when they left a lot of rolling stock in flood zones where the subsequent flooding did lots of damage, then more recently their inability to keep all lines running, extreme staff shortages, and it became clear that for whatever the reason things were badly out of control. Add to that all the uncertainty over Gateway, the absurd ARC (the train to Macy's Cellar) and any sort of project planning became a joke, IMHO.

#1578477 by photobug56
Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:56 pm

I agree about Sandy. NJT performance since 2012 has degraded almost daily. From 1983 to 2010 it seemed to improve annually. My concern with the LC is distance/time.NJT is a commuter railroad. I have never met a commuter who wants to spend 2-1/2 hours each way doing it. I had that experience several times. I quit the job. If Amtrak wants to go to Scranton, let them build it.

R&DB wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:28 pm

#1578477 by photobug56
Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:56 pm

I agree about Sandy. NJT performance since 2012 has degraded almost daily. From 1983 to 2010 it seemed to improve annually. My concern with the LC is distance/time.NJT is a commuter railroad. I have never met a commuter who wants to spend 2-1/2 hours each way doing it. I had that experience several times. I quit the job. If Amtrak wants to go to Scranton, let them build it.

People commute daily from the Scranton area to NYC (at least pre COVID). That's been going on for a long time. Choice today is either drive or Martz Bus. Neither are fun.

My NYC commute from Long Island on a good day was 2 hours each way. Lost my job because crooked bosses decided (for their own profit) to move hundreds of jobs from Manhattan to White Plains - 3 hours each way on a very good day.

photobug56 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:32 pm People commute daily from the Scranton area to NYC (at least pre COVID). That's been going on for a long time. Choice today is either drive or Martz Bus. Neither are fun.

Mr. Photobug, I think there is far less commuting to New York even from Monroe County - Let alone Luzerne and Lackawanna than there was during the '06-'08 "housing bubble".

Somewhere, many moons ago in this topic I linked New York Times articles regarding Monroe County (PA) bus commuting life back in the days of houses bought on the strength of "liar loans". That life is over, with the "victims" having ruined credit, zero Net Worth, and the only way left to reverse the situation will be to win big in a Lottery - and preserve the winnings.

It's a telling tale suggesting that even with a full employment economy we enjoy at present (but with no assurance of the future), the preference is to live closer to the urban core. While the possibility of "endless COVID" may obviate this immediate thought placing Sussex (NJ) back in the picture, not too sure about the noted PA counties.

Here is the series of long in depth Times articles I noted:

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/nyre ... d-ink.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/12/nyre ... llets.html

So I gather that I80 and I380 are no longer congested and are not ever expected to be so again? IMHO, having first personally driven them in 1978, they've long been bad and need relief. Plus it's not just about commuting. It's also about tourism.

Bids for finishing the Andover segment are due on Nov 23. https://www.njtransit.com/procurement/calendar

Decision within a couple years (ignoring lawsuits), construction starting within 5 and finishing within 10, opening within 15. For what, 7 more miles?

Maybe by the time I'm 105...

photobug56 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:33 pm Decision within a couple years (ignoring lawsuits), construction starting within 5 and finishing within 10, opening within 15. For what, 7 more miles?

Aren't lawsuits a given since it is a state agency awarding a contract?

Yes.

Anyone know the song - In the year, 2525...

When released, I had returned to University of Illinois after completing my Service:

https://youtu.be/jP36qymmCtg

It's not just commuters, though in time more will be back. It's also tourism. And unlike what you said, lots of greedy execs out there who decide they don't want to commute but want their workers to (even when there's no reason to), and they have moved a lot of jobs out of the core and into places an hour east or north or south or west, and we need better commuter rail with better inter regional connections. Areas like Scranton are also loaded with under or unused commercial real state. Plus college kids and others. Our highways are badly overloaded, and passenger / commuter rail can help with that.

FYI, not everyone can drive long distance to get to work.

photobug56 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 12:42 am Our highways are badly overloaded, and passenger / commuter rail can help with that.

FYI, not everyone can drive long distance to get to work.

Mr. Photobug, I must wonder why for the road trips I take out East, why is it for the Westward return, I "just seem" to leave Greenwich 930A, am X-ing George at about 1030, and "playing George" (well, a bit upstream) again at 12N?

Obviously people needing to get to work cannot plan a journey to hit "bottleneck points" at the daylight "slack hour" as do I.

At this time, I hold "it will never be the same" so far as work goes in a post-COVID world (I'm optimistic right now; the graph posted at The Times' site daily shows a continual downward trend, and there have been no reports of new deadly variants like Delta. Haven't heard much about Gamma and Mu, so I assume, "they're no big thing"). No mass transit agency will see a return to Dec '19 passenger counts, and if as you hold new office plazas will be developed "out there" such as in Sussex County, there will need be "reverse commute" patterns established breaking the "little town to big town in the morning, back to little town in the evening" if they are to provide relevant transportation again.