Lackawanna Cutoff Passenger Service Restoration

I wonder if money from the infra bill will get NJT more in the mood to get this done while some of us who care are still alive, let alone able to use it. At the rate NJT has gone at it, what, one mile every 10 years give or take, I'm not holding my breath for NJT to do it.

@photobug56 I’m new here. Let’s say Amtrak does this. How long would they take to get it done? I’d imagine that they have more funding/resources to pull off something like this?

no amount of money is going to resolve the scheduling issues. due to legitimate environmental reasons, there is a limited number of months in the year that construction can take place.

that said, extra funding won't hurt, and i suspect that if Amtrak is serious about restoring service to Scranton, NJT will probably not bother putting out any more money beyond service to Andover. Frankly I'm amazed they are willing to spend any money at all given the minuscule ridership it's going to bring.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:08 pm @photobug56 I’m new here. Let’s say Amtrak does this. How long would they take to get it done? I’d imagine that they have more funding/resources to pull off something like this?

I think Amtrak has stated something like 3-5 years? They need the NJT portion of the project to be completed first I would think.

Which reminds me of something I don't understand. If the Roseville Tunnel is such a problem, why wouldn't they just daylight it?

scoostraw wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:14 am Which reminds me of something I don't understand. If the Roseville Tunnel is such a problem, why wouldn't they just daylight it?

I've wondered same myself, Mr. Scoostraw.

I don't know if "North of hell" gives you occasion to drive the 80 through Central PA, but some of those cuts are mighty, mighty deep.

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:08 pm @photobug56 I’m new here. Let’s say Amtrak does this. How long would they take to get it done? I’d imagine that they have more funding/resources to pull off something like this?

It took Amtrak 5 years to get from Philadelphia to Atlantic City and the track and ROW was already there and being used, although infrequently.

scoostraw wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:14 am

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:08 pm @photobug56 I’m new here. Let’s say Amtrak does this. How long would they take to get it done? I’d imagine that they have more funding/resources to pull off something like this?

I think Amtrak has stated something like 3-5 years? They need the NJT portion of the project to be completed first I would think.

Which reminds me of something I don't understand. If the Roseville Tunnel is such a problem, why wouldn't they just daylight it?

Or think outside the box.
What would be cheaper, rebuilding the tunnel,
Or have the air force obliterate the mountain with a bunker buster missile training run?

The latter sounds like grade A entertainment! Provided there’s no one in the blast radius.

I guess I can see why fixing the tunnel might be the way to go.

When they were building the. cutoff the plan was to have no tunnels. The Roseville tunnel was supposed to be a cut. They discovered that the cut would be impractical so they did a tunnel. Looks like even with improved construction methods the cut is still impractical.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 11:01 am

scoostraw wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:14 am

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:08 pm @photobug56 I’m new here. Let’s say Amtrak does this. How long would they take to get it done? I’d imagine that they have more funding/resources to pull off something like this?

I think Amtrak has stated something like 3-5 years? They need the NJT portion of the project to be completed first I would think.

Which reminds me of something I don't understand. If the Roseville Tunnel is such a problem, why wouldn't they just daylight it?

Or think outside the box.
What would be cheaper, rebuilding the tunnel,
Or have the air force obliterate the mountain with a bunker buster missile training run?

At least one of those is already definitively funded!

Funny jeers about blowing up mountains aside, I have another question.

Let’s say the cutoff is completely restored to Scranton. What would the travel times be like?

Bracdude181 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 11:43 am The latter sounds like grade A entertainment! Provided there’s no one in the blast radius.

Yeah, but in my bad moments I can imagine a few politicians, the ones that lie the most... But none will be named, though they do tend to be anti Amtrak...

If you look at timetables from Lackawanna days, you will see that commuter train times were much shorter then. And, these days, the M&E is much more congested than it was then. The route in PA from Slateford to Scranton is not a high speed railroad. Neither is the M&E. About the only place the train could go fast is on the Cutoff.
Sometime earlier in this thread i calculated how much slower the train would be today than in Lackawanna days.
If the Boonton Line were still intact, it might be used to speed things up but sadly it has been sacrificed to build I80.
Suffice to say that, if you take the time from Port Jervis to Hoboken to be the maximum possible tolerable commuter trip, the Poconos (and Scranton, of course) would be far from commuter range.
Does Amtrak plan to offer food service on this route?
I doubt if this route would get enough patronage to justify its construction.