by mtuandrew
JasW wrote:Historical comparisons may be inapt for a number of reasons -- here's another, in 1924, Seaboard, to compete with the FEC in South Florida, built a 200+ mile extension to West Palm Beach across central Florida wetlands in just nine months -- but such comparisons do underscore that where there's a will, there's a way, and a quick one at that.True, but gators don’t pay taxes and palmettos don’t file EIS comments.
JasW wrote:As sad as it makes me as a railfan to admit it, there is much truth in this. The younger generation (or "younger generation," as the esteemed Mr. Norman might put it) has gravitated to the urban core, rather than West Podunk. People will not be lining up to commute to NYC from Blairstown or anywhere across the Delaware. Even Andover seems like a waste -- you might as well just drive to the station in Mt. Olive. NJT realizes this, I think, and while I'm not sure it has yet relegated the cutoff to white elephant status, it is instead more conscious of the real elephant in the room, that being the looming failure of the PRR tunnels. Priorities, priorities.Exactly right - I was looking at the proximity of Mount Olive last night. With Cutoff levels of funding, you could fund a dedicated Andover-Mt Olive circulator for years, or an express bus to Newark. Also, Scranton just isn’t that much of a destination from New York - you can’t even get there from Philadelphia on a train. (Which is much more of a missed opportunity.)
If a non-Conrail freight operator had wrenched the Cutoff away before abandonment, or if the EL hadn’t abandoned the Boonton, this conversation would instead be about how Pennsylvania keeps threatening to cancel its share of funding for the single East Stroudsburg daily turn, how slow (CN or CP) runs, and how for the millionth time we wished that Amtrak would operate via the Southern Tier. I’m not even sure Andover would rate a station.