High Speed commuter rail line planned between Scranton and Nyc by 2030 (Dover: crime rates, how much)

[Sugashane]

Phase one of the Lackawanna rail line project to Andover,Nj is almost complete with passenger service starting in 2016.With phase 2 starting right after, and passenger line becoming a reality in the poconos,I wanted to hear peoples thoughts?

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Sugashane

Phase one of the Lackawanna rail line project to Andover,Nj is almost complete with passenger service starting in 2016.With phase 2 starting right after, and passenger line becoming a reality in the poconos,I wanted to hear peoples thoughts?

There have been many promises to keep our incumbents in office. I don't see that happening anytime soon or by 2030.

We had rail service to the Poconos when I was young. But none of the rail road bridges or tunnels have had any work done to them in the last fifty years. We don't even know how to build bridges, viaducts, or tunnels as good as they were build years ago. Take a good hard look at the viaduct that is four miles east, on Route 80, of the Delaware Water Gap Bridge. I don't think we have enough money to remove that 1929 structure; let alone build a new one. There is another problem with flooding. In one year the tracks through the Water Gap were under water three time - not great route for modern rail service.

Just do the Google 'Earth' program and see if you can follow the tracks. My feeling is that some of the right-of-ways have been sold.

I know that Monroe County has one of the longest commutes in the Nation. I just think it is more realistic to try to bring the better paying metropolitan jobs to the Poconos; than to move employees to the jobs. Figure out how to do that and you have solved the commute problem.

[CarbonCountyLiving]

We will all be dead before it happens, if it ever does.

[Sugashane]

Believe me, I was just as sceptical of this project as anyone else,not long ago it seemed like a myth but lately it seems like this is actually happening.If you go to lackawanna cutoff on wilipedia it has a pretty detailed plan from nj transit on what progress has already been made and what staging the project includes.I agree the timeline they have will probably be much later than that.As far as what I read the track existing in some of these areas is salvagable, the viaduct over 80 is staying but is to be rebuilt a little better.The old right of ways arent going to be used, instead new land has been designated for new right of ways.I question myself how much work its gonna take to actually complete this project.

[jtab4994]

I think there is more money to be made by donors and relatives of politicians by "studying" a rail link than there is in building one. Otherwise it would have been built already.

I moved here in 1993 and I went to my first "train meeting" a Pocono Mountain HS (now PM East) shortly thereafter. That was the high point of the rail effort as far as I'm concerned.

The NJ transit M&E/Boonton line was extended from Dover to Hackettstown in about 1993. Then they make it as far as Andover by 2016 (scheduled). I doubt they'll make it all the way to Scranton by 2030 if at all, but they'll study the heck out of it as long as they can get funding!

[ecoscape]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

I think there is more money to be made by donors and relatives of politicians by "studying" a rail link than there is in building one. Otherwise it would have been built already.

I moved here in 1993 and I went to my first "train meeting" a Pocono Mountain HS (now PM East) shortly thereafter. That was the high point of the rail effort as far as I'm concerned.

The NJ transit M&E/Boonton line was extended from Dover to Hackettstown in about 1993. Then they make it as far as Andover by 2016 (scheduled). I doubt they'll make it all the way to Scranton by 2030 if at all, but they'll study the heck out of it as long as they can get funding!

You're completely right! Assessment of the assessment is the way, last one was completed in 2008 and prob cost millions most likely it's outdated at this point

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Sugashane

Believe me, I was just as sceptical of this project as anyone else,not long ago it seemed like a myth but lately it seems like this is actually happening.If you go to lackawanna cutoff on wilipedia it has a pretty detailed plan from nj transit on what progress has already been made and what staging the project includes.I agree the timeline they have will probably be much later than that.As far as what I read the track existing in some of these areas is salvagable, the viaduct over 80 is staying but is to be rebuilt a little better.The old right of ways arent going to be used, instead new land has been designated for new right of ways.I question myself how much work its gonna take to actually complete this project.

Have you ever looked close at that old viaduct? That old bridge is one of the key factors that have held up I-80 lane expansion as well as the Albatross to rail service. You can drive south to before Portland on Route 611 and then make a sharp left on Slateford Road. You then can pull over close to one of the massive piers that support the bridge. Take your camera and take some pictures. This is not just a little plaster job or the way we solved rail bridge problems in Mt. Pocono (we put up a plastic sign saying Welcome to the Poconos while the bridge needs desperate help).

There are some that do not want anyone to touch that viaduct - historic preservation since it was built in 1929.

On the New Jersey side the viaduct restricts Route I-80 to only four lanes. The shoulders of the four lane I-80 are too low for commercial traffic now.

Even if you could wave a very expensive magic wand; this problem will not go away overnight and it will not get better. Then you still have the problem of tracks that went under water three times in one year - would you invest money in a doomed venture? Of course PA spent millions on that 'new' rest area that also was built in a flood plane and went under water when the tracks went under water. Only government has the money to throw away! They would not let us build in a flood plane.

[Gettingouttahere]

It will never happen.
End of story.

[CarbonCountyLiving]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

I think there is more money to be made by donors and relatives of politicians by "studying" a rail link than there is in building one. Otherwise it would have been built already.

I moved here in 1993 and I went to my first "train meeting" a Pocono Mountain HS (now PM East) shortly thereafter. That was the high point of the rail effort as far as I'm concerned.

The NJ transit M&E/Boonton line was extended from Dover to Hackettstown in about 1993. Then they make it as far as Andover by 2016 (scheduled). I doubt they'll make it all the way to Scranton by 2030 if at all, but they'll study the heck out of it as long as they can get funding!

And once those studies are done, they will do a study of them!!!

[sci]

Why is everyone so gungho to have a train to the city? Do you not also take into consideration that the train will also bring the city out to the Poconos and to Scranton. Yes it will make the commute a lot easier for a lot of people but remember why you chose to move where you did. Most of the people commuting used to live in the NYC area and left for a better less expensive and safer way of life.
Lets fast forward to the time [how every many years you think it will be is up to you] when the train line is finished. Since it is an easy commute to the city house prices rise sharply and many people can no longer afford to live in the area and are forced to relocate somewhere less expensive. Sounds just like whats happening on Long Island and Brooklyn. Your children grow up and cannot find affordable housing so they leave the area. The area becomes stagnant because there is no growth in the area as it has become just a suburb of the city.
Many people have left the metro area searching for a safer place to raise a family. If and when the train comes do you really think that only good hard working people will be on it. Look what is happening in the area out west with the oil booms going on. Overnight town sizes have double or tripled and so have the crime rates. Towns have to scramble to built jail space, hire more officers and hire more personal in general services to handle all the influx of new people. Taxes have to be raised to cover all this and in a hurry.
I would think that if all these people pushing for the train would use their time and money to better the local areas it would be a better outcome for everyone.