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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 01-28-2010, 03:39 PM
 
3,756 posts, read 9,554,237 times
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Heard on the news that the City of Scranton was not given the stimulus package for the rail project.........
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Old 01-29-2010, 08:09 AM
 
Location: wilkes-barre
1,973 posts, read 5,275,124 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BLUEDIAMOND64 View Post
Heard on the news that the City of Scranton was not given the stimulus package for the rail project.........
Here is a little known secret...we already have these huge, honkin' things that travel to and from NYC everyday! They have more then enough space, and the prices are reasonable. They are called "buses", and they do not cost several hundred million dollars of taxpayer money to get up and running, hell they don't cost the taxpayers a dime because it is a private enterprise! We are not stranded here in NEPA, if you want to go to NYC for the day call Martz Bus Lines they will be glad to have you!
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Old 01-29-2010, 09:18 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,821,616 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W-B proud View Post
Here is a little known secret...we already have these huge, honkin' things that travel to and from NYC everyday! They have more then enough space, and the prices are reasonable. They are called "buses", and they do not cost several hundred million dollars of taxpayer money to get up and running, hell they don't cost the taxpayers a dime because it is a private enterprise! We are not stranded here in NEPA, if you want to go to NYC for the day call Martz Bus Lines they will be glad to have you!
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Old 01-29-2010, 09:23 AM
 
Location: NE PA
7,931 posts, read 15,821,616 times
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Guaranteed if we ever do get that train, it will be a big bloated bureacracy. They'll have to form some "rail authority" which will be yet another place for politicians and cronies and political patronage jobs. Just what we need in an already-bloated government and with all of the NEPA corruption finally coming to roost. I think the feds see what has been happening in NEPA and are leary of steering more money here. Can you blame them?
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Old 01-29-2010, 11:21 AM
 
4,277 posts, read 11,787,860 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W-B proud View Post
They are called "buses", and they do not cost several hundred million dollars of taxpayer money to get up and running, hell they don't cost the taxpayers a dime because it is a private enterprise!
The roads they run on do cost a few nickels...
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Old 01-29-2010, 04:09 PM
 
Location: Drama Central
4,083 posts, read 9,097,857 times
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I commuted from Mt.Cobb and Scranton to Old Bridge and East Orange NJ for a decade or so and actually enjoyed the time in the car. There is no where enough traffic from the Scranton area to justify the expense of a commuter rail which will not be a highspeed because again there is not enough traffic to justify that either.

Too many stops and too far to go and not enough people. No one will move this far out to use a train that would take longer then a car to get there. Stroudsburg are a maybe but not here because nay train from Scranton would have to stop in Tobyhanna, Stroudsburg, Blairstown, Hackettstown, Parsippany, Rutherford, Hoboken and then another train or ferry to the city.

I would rather drive and pay for parking.

Not to mention there was absolutely no surprise when we didn't get the money. Its like putting a high speed train in Butte Montana.
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Old 01-29-2010, 04:15 PM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,853,319 times
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The Lackawanna line will use higher speed Trains , in a way. NJT has plans to Electrify it and use there Electric ALP-46 Locomotives which can go 125mph. There aren't that many stops , so it might be 20-45mins faster and less stressful then Driving + you'll probably get the Bi-levels they have toilets and lush seats. Maybe one day there will be a Wyoming Valley Light Rail, which i think would work perfect up there.
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Old 01-30-2010, 05:29 AM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,853,319 times
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I Don't , i'm a Rail buff and fanner. The NJT section is capable of speeds of 130 and the PA section is Capable of speeds 90-110. That is faster then the Speed limit , so i think this line will be very popular. + theres alot ppl who work in Central & Eastern Jersey and live in PA , i know alot or Sussex County. I'm assuming another agency would run the PA section like the Port Jervis line is owned by the MTA in NY State and NJT owns the NJ section.

~Corey

Last edited by toobusytoday; 09-24-2010 at 02:28 PM.. Reason: mod cut, removed deleted quote
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Old 01-30-2010, 06:07 AM
 
Location: Sheeptown, USA
3,236 posts, read 6,658,795 times
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This is a very interesting Wikipedia article that explains everything..... scroll down to the bottom, Abandonment and revival (1984 - present)

Lackawanna Cut-Off - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 01-30-2010, 12:07 PM
 
Location: wilkes-barre
1,973 posts, read 5,275,124 times
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High speed rail rail that can cut travel times in half is one thing, and even then I just don't think there is a need or demand for it here especially for the outrageous cost (a quarter billion dollars!) and that's just the up front cost not including ongoing maintainence cost and personal cost! I read somewhere a while back that they did a study, and the conclusion was TEN PEOPLE would ride this train daily to commute from Scranton for work. Is $500 million dollars+ really worth it? This would be the biggest pork barrel project in modern history! It would be slower then it would take to get to NYC by bus or car. That is like paying $500 million dollars to go back to the horse and buggy after the automobile has surpassed it. Honestly, who is gonna take a train that takes much longer and has various stops as oppossed to a bus or car that doesn't have any of those issues? After the nostalgia factor wheres off... the answer is nobody. They may take this train a few times at first just to "check it out" but after that they will opt for the cheaper, more convenient way. And like I said eirlier the $500 million is just the "projected" up front cost (and we all know by the time it is built it'll be much closer to 1 billion) and all for what? Ten people to commute to NYC daily plus a handful of tourist and daytrippers? What about the maintanence cost? Who pays to maintian the rail? Who pays to replace old trains and engines,Who pays to upgrade the train station? I tink the people in Scranton who support this thing are doing it for all the wrong reasons. They just want to look like "big city" folk come hell or high water, and they don't care if there is no legitimate need, or demand. They just want to say "Hey, look at what we have here in Scranton!" That's it! That is the reasoning as far as I can tell. Scranton isn't a big city, it is a small city and a shrinking city, and if Scranton's train service wasn't able to stay running decades ago when the city was twice the size as it is today...what makes you all think it will succeed today with a much smaller population and competition fron cars and busses? The money that gets p*$$ed away in this country on nonsense is unbelievable! It is pork projects like this that have gotten this country into the mess it is in today. That is why this country is so in debt. Let a charity or a private organization raise the money for this. I won't use it, and I don't want to pay for it!
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