Lackawanna Cutoff Passenger Service Restoration

northjerseybuff wrote:So how many emailed NJT about the cutoff??? be honest!! if you haven't..take 5 min to do it..it can benefit the project!

Rail service or not, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre are moving full steam ahead with station plans
Anyone traveling through the Poconos on Interstate 80 in the morning knows full well the bumper-to-bumper traffic plaguing the gateway to New Jersey. Boarding buses as early as 4:30 a.m., daily commuters to Manhattan jam up a stretch of road that has become a nightmare for people trying to get into the Big Apple.

But instead of hopping on buses and belonging to "commuter clubs," the goal is to get riders on passenger trains from Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and the Poconos to New York City, removing them from Interstate 80's bottleneck in the eastern part of the state.

Yes, the long-talked-about rail line is coming, eventually.

"It's moving quite well," said Larry Malski of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

Malski stated that the Federal Transit Administration is in the process of approving "environmental submissions" to make sure the project is good to go.

"That's taken well over two years," he said of the "thousands" of pages that have gone into getting the project ready.

The high-speed rail line will connect Scranton to Manhattan and will take thousands of people to jobs in both New Jersey and New York on a daily basis.

Congress already earmarked millions for the project, so much so that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called the Scranton to New York line a "pork" project. (The same was said, by other politicians, of the Steamtown National Historic Site years earlier.) Officials from the federal government estimate it could cost as much as $300 million dollars to finish, but New Jersey Transit (which will run the rail line once it's in place) said it could cost much more than that - raising the price tag to about $350 million.

"When the document is released, cost estimates will be released at that time," said Joe Dee, a NJ Transit spokesman. "There were some original estimates done a few years ago and it will be higher than those estimates."

"There are factors that could drive the price up," said Malski. "We've asked for high-speed service so trains can travel up to 110 miles per hour. We're hoping for two and a half hours, and with the addition of the high-speed train running, we can cut it down."

That's two and a half hours with Pa. stops in Scranton, Tobyhanna, Mount Pocono, Analomink, and East Stroudsburg. In New Jersey, the train will visit Blairstown and Andover. Riders would then be able to hop on a train to take them to Newark, N.J. The line would eventually link up with New York City's Penn Station.

Initial studies from New Jersey Transit indicate that more than 2,800 people will ride the line to the Big Apple by 2025.

"Our studies show that not everybody is going to New York City," said Malski. "Most people are going to jobs in northern New Jersey. The Morristown area is the most popular because of the giant corporate campuses, and a lot of people are going to jobs in places like that."

The last time passengers could take a train from Scranton to Hoboken, N.J., was in the late 1950s.

Both Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Arlen Specter (Specter is a member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee) support the project and are funneling millions for its completion. A spokesman in Specter's office doesn't expect anything more to happen until the FTA approves environmental conditions in its next cycle - maybe by 2008. Specter believes it will be an economic boom to Northeastern Pennsylvania. The funding will come from both the federal and state governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Once the "environmental assessment" is released, the public will have a chance to give its input.

New Jersey Transit already bought the so-called "Lackawanna Cutoff," a 28-mile stretch of abandoned rail line from Port Morris, N.J., to the Delaware Water Gap, which is critical to connecting Pennsylvania to New York City. Built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in the early 1900s, it was later deserted by Conrail when that company took it over. The State of New Jersey condemned the property, paid $21 million to get the property, and will now rebuild the track. New Jersey Transit would also construct train stations, crossings, and parking lots for commuters. Monies would also be used to purchase three locomotives and 18 passenger cars.

So where would you get the train in Scranton? Federal money is already in place for the Scranton Intermodal Center, to be constructed next to the Scranton State Office Building on Lackawanna Avenue - right across from the Martz Trailways bus station.
"It's COLTS, Martz, and there will be a walking tunnel that will connect passengers to the electric trolley line," said Paul Talerico, Executive Director of COLTS, Lackawanna County's transportation authority. "And then eventually you'll be able to board the train to New Jersey."
It will be designed to look like an old train station and will be the Electric City's transportation hub.

Hop on in Wilkes-Barre
It's hard to imagine a place where passengers, Playboy bunnies, and rock legend Warren Zevon singing "Werewolves of London" gathered over the years - all for different reasons.
The building that saw one of our earliest forms of mass transit also lived through a period as part of a hotel complex, dance club, and even a restaurant.

"I remember they had a train in a glass case. You used to put a nickel in and the wheels would turn," said John Novelli of Mocanaqua, who recalled stopping at the train station on his way to see his relatives. "I would run there to get to see it."

"They used to call it the 'cannonball' because it moved so fast," recalled Katherine Monchak of Shickshinny. She often took the train from Wilkes-Barre to Hazleton, where it would stop near the Altamont Hotel.

And now, after being used to entertain a generation of partygoers, the Market Street Square complex is on its way to going back to its original use - taking people from the Diamond City to New York City.

"That's part of the vision, no question about it," said Merle Mackin, executive director of the Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Mackin envisions something much like Jim Thorpe, which is home to an old train station where people can browse through interactive kiosks and get information about our area.

"This is a much larger facility," said Mackin, who doesn't have a timetable as to when it could be finished.

"It's a historic structure. It's a piece of Wyoming Valley history and you have to look at what has to be preserved," said Allan Bellas, executive director of the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority. Bellas' office is responsible for renovating, restoring, and then overseeing a project that will make the former Market Street Square into a visitors center.

And then the hope is to be able to get on a train and make your way to Manhattan.

"The chandeliers, stained glass; we have the original Wilkes-Barre station old oak 'depot' sign that used to hang there. And those will all be incorporated into the design," said Bellas, who isn't sure exactly how some of the space will be used beyond the visitors center portion. Bellas' office is working with an engineering firm to figure out how to best use the old train station.

And depending on who you talk to, there could be a number of things it could be used for, including a new home for the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame, meeting rooms, and perhaps a restaurant. Everyone involved agrees that its location - near the historic Stegmaier Building - makes for a perfect entrance way into Downtown Wilkes-Barre.

The Redevelopment Authority bought the complex from Wilkes-Barre real estate developer Thom Greco for $5.8 million dollars - with all of the money coming from Uncle Sam.

Since its purchase, thieves broke in and stole some valuables. Bellas said the thugs - who have not been caught - stole some stained glass, copper piping found in the air-conditioning system, and bar taps.

"They were looking for quick cash," he said. "I'm surprised they didn't fall through the roof."

The Wilkes-Barre Train Station, which is on the National Historic Registry, was built by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad Company in 1868 and then became part of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. There also are plans to display an old locomotive made by the Vulcan Iron Works of South Wilkes-Barre. Founded in 1849, the company stopped making locomotives in 1954 but made more than 50 diesel-electric trains, with many of them still in service today. It once employed more than 2,400 people.

"Their engines went all over the world," said George Spohrer of Dallas. A train buff by nature, Spohrer was appointed by the Redevelopment Authority to oversee the restoration of the locomotive that still sits at the property on Pennsylvania Avenue. "During World War II," he said, "they made hundreds of steam locomotives for the U.S. Army."

Spohrer said the plan is to restore the locomotive at a train shop in Coxton at a cost of about $200,000. The engine was made for the Army Ordinance Depot and was sent to San Antonio, Texas, in May 1942. Marvin Roth, the former owner of the train station, brought it back here, where it has sat idle for decades. The engine boasts two, 600-horsepower diesel engines, creating electric power through two Westinghouse generators.

"It's a real gem," said Spohrer, who plans to put the engine back into service.

"Our plan is to operate dinner trains from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston," he noted, adding that the train would cross the Susquehanna River in Pittston then head down the Kingston side.

"You'd be able to pick up a lot of the railroad lines and be on your way to all over," said Jesse Teitelbaum, executive director of the Luzerne County Historical Society. Teitelbaum said the station closed in 1972 and called the restoration project "a good thing." "A lot of the modern additions made miss the historic integrity. Now that they are restoring the station, it won't be missed."

History of the Station
Greco operated what was then to be known as the Station Complex along with the Kornfelds (owners of The Woodlands Inn & Resort) - leasing the property from Marvin Roth. Roth at one time owned Rocky Glen Park and the Top Dog Arcade in what's now the Pine Mall in Wilkes-Barre Township.

Greco renamed it the Station Complex and operated Peanuts, the Be-Bop Café, and a restaurant called Norma Jean's.

"We named it Peanuts in honor of Planters," said Greco. In 1906, Amedeo Obici and Mario Peruzzi began the Planters Nuts and Chocolate Company on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre.
In 1992, the Kornfelds and Greco cut ties with each other. After a legal battle, Greco bought the property in 1997 and renamed it Market Street Square.

The property also included a hotel where people slept in train cars. Greco said the only other one like it he knew of was in Chattanooga, Tenn. He closed the hotel in 1995.

"We couldn't operate it because of the climate of the downtown," he said. "The homeless and the thugs broke in and vandalized it."

Greco gave up running Market Street Square to concentrate on a fiber-optic project in 2001. That's when a group leased the property to run Safari Island, which opened on Sept. 12, 2001, and closed two months later. Banana Joe's came shortly after that but was gone by January 2002.

"Out of the five locations in a study of where to put a train depot, four of them said Market Street Square would be perfect," noted Greco, who was more than happy to sell the property, adding that Roth's goal had been to renovate it to its original grandeur.

"We were just a caretaker of a landmark until the city or somebody woke up and found out what an asset it could be," he continued. "These two commissioners (Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepnak) realized that this could be something worthwhile to save." Greco acknowledged that as a private owner, he would have been unable to get the kinds of grants available to government agencies for renovations.

When you tie both projects together, it's hard to put a price tag on how much it'll cost - hundreds of millions of dollars could all be thrown at the trip from NEPA to NYC much easier. It's all in the name of putting Scranton and Wilkes-Barre on the map, and bringing a piece of our past back to life so it can be a part of our future.