Scranton - NYC Railway...Any Progress? (Dover, Penn: high school, subsidized, tax)

[fornsx]

Has there been any recent developments regarding the railway project from Scranton to NYC? Tried Googling but there seems to be too much conflicting information.

I grew up in Scranton but moved away after high school 17 years ago. My family still lives there. I have found a renewed interest and appreciation for the city's history and culture.

[bloominscranton]

Not that I have heard...

[ksobilo]

I haven't heard anything about this either, but I file this idea in the category of "be careful what you wish for"... I think it would be nice for day trips to NYC, but am leary about people moving to Scranton to commute to NYC.

[bloominscranton]

[quote=ksobilo;19040216]I haven't heard anything about this either, but I file this idea in the category of "be careful what you wish for"... I think it would be nice for day trips to NYC, but am leary about people moving to Scranton to commute to NYC.


Leary? I have to tell you, I think anyone that does this commute, is on the wrong side of crazy. I make the drive once and a while and HATE IT! Granted, I have to go to mid- Suffolk county, but the drive is insane and the train ride, well, it would be better but not by much. If one leaves at 6 am. they would probally be getting in a 6pm, in good weather.

[Trucker7]

It will be good for the drug dealers from NJ, who will be able to use their taxpayer subsidized transit passes to deliver their merchandise to NEPA.

[frank754]

There have been several threads on this, hopefully in a few years we may see some progress, but nothing is definite yet. In NJ they are now working on restoring the first 7 miles of the line, which will leave 20 more miles to be re-tracked in NJ, plus needing some work on the Delaware River bridge.
Here was the last recent thread:
//www.city-data.com/forum/north...poconos-2.html
You can search for more.

[SWBFAN]

Originally Posted by Trucker7

It will be good for the drug dealers from NJ, who will be able to use their taxpayer subsidized transit passes to deliver their merchandise to NEPA.

Right, because we all know that drug dealers don't ride on buses or in cars.

[W-B proud]

If you want to go to NYC, take one of the half empty Martz Buses. You'll get thee faster, won't have to get off in Hoboken to take another bus to Manhatten, and it'll be cheaper. Plus, you'll be saving the tax payers about a BILLION dollars. This train debacle has to be the biggest screwed up idea ever proposed for our region. It's worse then the inflatable dam and much, much more expensive and unneccessary.

[lilyflower7]

Honestly, Scranton to NYC via train (whenever service is restored) is going to be one LONG LONG train ride. From what I recall the revamped Lacakwanna cutoff will attach to the NJ Transit Morristown/Gladstone Line somewhere around Hacketstown. The way I figure it (from my experience with NJ transit) this is going to be about a 2 hour rail ride to Hoboken. Mainly for the following reasons

1) Stops - since presumably NJ Transit is going to run this, there'll be some stops in NJ even on an "express" line. The new NJ stops are pretty much guaranteed on this but there might also be major stops like Morristown/Dover/Summit along the way. Newark Broad St. will probably also be a stop as will Secaucus before the line ends in Hoboken. Stops add a lot of time onto a train schedule, particularly with NJ transit

2) Capacity - since the new line will be using the existing track/stations/etc as it goes further east and there's no plans to upgrade any of this there'll be the lovely delays due to overcapacity of the system (NJ Transit ALREADY has this as a problem) and resulting systemwide delays due to Amtrak/tunnel problems elsewhere in the system. Also, likely service won't be super frequent due to the capacity problems as you go further east.

3) Diesel vs electrified - all the plans I've seen for this line state that there's no plans to electrify the lines past where they already ARE electrified in NJ - this means that the train will have to terminate in Hoboken instead of going direct to NY Penn - particularly now that the ARC tunnel was scrapped. The PATH is quick to the WTC from Hoboken but if you're going to midtown it's a little more annoying from there.

4) Age of the system - most of the tracks already in the system can't take/aren't set up for bullet train/high speeds. Frankly, a lot of the entire system is on 1908 standards - so even if the new segment IS faster and better, it's going to slow considerably when it crosses the Delaware and goes onto the existing tracks.

I'm figuring a minimum of 2 hours by train from Scranton to Hoboken - possibly 2 and a half. That's a long commute to make every day and is going to be a VERY expensive monthly train ticket. It'll probably be close to $30 each way as it's now something like $15 each way from Princeton Junction.

[PITTSTON2SARASOTA]

Waiting on the rail in Scranton

http://www.recovery.pa.gov/portal/se...ion_100209.pdf

ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/Bureaus/railfreight/PARailPlanAppend2/Appendix4.pdf (broken link)