Rail link to Pa. closer to revival. Lackawanna Cutoff rebuilding endorsed.

[ThirdRail]

You think the trains and the High Line are crowded now? Here comes the Pocono Passengers! 
 
Rail link to Pa. closer to revival
Lackawanna Cutoff rebuilding endorsed
Thursday, June 05, 2008
BY JIM LOCKWOOD
Star-Ledger Staff

A long-awaited plan to restore passenger rail service between Hoboken and Scranton, Pa., via the defunct Lackawanna Cutoff in Warren, Sussex and Morris counties took a major step forward yesterday.

The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority in Newark included in its transit plans a 7-mile stretch of the cutoff from Andover Township in Sussex County to Port Morris in Morris County.


The nod of recognition makes this segment of the dormant rail line, estimated to cost $36.6 million to revive, eligible for federal funding. Trains could be running from Andover to Port Morris within "a few years," said Richard Roberts, chief planner for NJ Transit, the agency that would construct and operate the rails.

"We're going to build 7.3 miles of track," Roberts said. "The intention with this action is that something is going to happen."

Restoring the 28-mile Lackawanna Cutoff is a key to a $551 million plan to revive the 133-mile passenger rail line between Hoboken and Scranton. A revived line would ultimately link to New York City's Penn Station by connecting to NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton and Morris & Essex trains.

An engineering marvel when it was built a century ago, the cutoff was abandoned more than two decades ago. Passenger and freight trains whizzed along the high-speed route for some seven decades before service was discontinued and its rails were torn up in 1985.

Restoring the cutoff has been on the books for years, but has progressed mainly in fits and starts. The groundwork was laid in 2001, when New Jersey and Pennsylvania bought the cutoff rail bed for $21 million.

The goal is to create a mass transit commuting alternative in fast-growing northwest New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania. Eight trains would run daily, with stations in Andover and Blairstown in New Jersey, and in Delaware Water Gap, East Stroudsburg, Analomink, Mount Pocono, Tobyhanna and Scranton in Pennsylvania.

Last year, another hurdle was overcome when a draft environmental assessment of the entire rail line showed no major problems; but the cost estimate soared from $200 million more than a decade ago to $551 million in 2006.

The $36.6 million in federal funding was earmarked for the project by U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), a staunch supporter of the rail plan, and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). With the federal fiscal year ending by September, the NJTPA adopted the 7.3-mile stretch as the "minimal operable segment" and "locally preferred alternative" of the entire line.

An incremental approach is not unusual with large transportation projects, and now at least one section of the cutoff would be revived as a spur off NJ Transit's existing Boonton line.

"This is logical. We could work off the existing system," Roberts said. "You may lay out an entire project, but can't pay for it all at once. This is not a bad investment at all."

There are no timetables for construction on the rest of the line, beyond the 7.3 miles authorized yesterday.

Proponents of the long-sought rail plan see it as necessary to remove cars from congested Route 80 in New Jersey. Opponents say the line would cause further sprawl and increase traffic in Sussex and Warren counties and the neighboring Poconos, and would not remove cars from Route 80.

[ThirdRail]

I hope NJT is ordering more equipment for this new service! One thing that hasn't been addressed is who's paying for the Pennsylvania portion of the route? Is PA giving NJ a stipend or are they picking up the whole tab?


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/nj_transit_lackawanna_cutoff_r.html

NJ Transit: Lackawanna Cutoff rail line won't carry freight
by Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger
Wednesday June 18, 2008, 6:49 PM
A revived 7.3-mile stretch of the Lackawanna Cutoff in Sussex County would be for commuter trains only and would not be a freight line, officials said today during a public forum in Byram on the rail plan.

Responding to a resident's question about whether trash or freight would one day be hauled on the line, Jeff Stiles, an engineering consultant for NJ Transit, said, "NJ Transit does not and cannot operate freight. There are no plans or discussions on freight."

Stiles gave an overview of the $36.6 million rail-revival plan during a special meeting of the Byram Township Council. The session was held in response to the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority's June 4 funding approval of the cutoff section from Andover Township to Port Morris in Morris County.

That was a big step in a long-awaited plan to restore passenger rail service between Hoboken and Scranton, Pa., via the defunct 28-mile Lackawanna Cutoff in Warren, Sussex and Morris counties. The Andover-to-Port Morris section of the cutoff would be a spur off NJ Transit's existing Boonton line.

Asked about the project timeline, Stiles said, "If all the moons aligned, it would be three-to-four years at least before a train would be running in Andover."

Concerns also were expressed about the location and safety of a train station proposed to be built on rural, isolated Roseville Road in Andover Township, between Andover Borough and Byram. An "unmanned" station would consist of a boarding platform and parking for 65 vehicles. Stiles said NJ Transit would work with the local police departments on safety issues.

The rail plan is still in the environmental-assessment phase. If the Federal Transit Administration finds no significant impacts, as is expected, the plan would move on to engineering and design, and then to construction.

Restoring the cutoff is a key to a $551 million plan to revive a passenger rail line between Hoboken and Scranton. A revived line would ultimately link to New York City's Penn Station by connecting to NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton and Morris & Essex trains.

Proponents of the plan see it as necessary to remove cars from congested Route 80 in New Jersey. Opponents say it would cause more sprawl and traffic in Sussex and Warren counties and the neighboring Poconos, and would not remove cars from Route 80.

[lyra]

Concerns also were expressed about the location and safety of a train station proposed to be built on rural, isolated Roseville Road in Andover Township, between Andover Borough and Byram. An "unmanned" station would consist of a boarding platform and parking for 65 vehicles. Stiles said NJ Transit would work with the local police departments on safety issues.


Weird.  There are a bunch of unmanned stations along the Boonton & M&E lines, no?  I think Denville, Landing, Mt Arlington and Boonton are all "unmanned", and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.  What are the safety issues they're concerned about here, teenagers hanging out or something?

[mhnj]

What are the safety issues they're concerned about here, teenagers hanging out or something?

and breaking into cars.

[lyra]

Yeah, I see that.  Although I would argue that's not only an unmanned station problem.      Dover is a "manned" station but I would never leave anything valuable in my car.  The "B" lot is pretty sketchy.

[mhnj]

Yeah, I see that.  Although I would argue that's not only an unmanned station problem.      Dover is a "manned" station but I would never leave anything valuable in my car.  The "B" lot is pretty sketchy.

Absolutely. The Princeton Junction station had a few stretches of break-ins maybe a couple of years ago or longer(?), and that's a very busy and manned station. But the lots are so big and spread out, that it would be fairly easy to be inconspicuous. The local police and a guy with the parking authority seem to patrol the lot now, so I haven't seen broken glass in quite some time.

[CrudeBoy]

As long as the trains stay on the Boonton line, that's fine by me

[ThirdRail]

Yeah, I see that.  Although I would argue that's not only an unmanned station problem.      Dover is a "manned" station but I would never leave anything valuable in my car.  The "B" lot is pretty sketchy.

Absolutely. The Princeton Junction station had a few stretches of break-ins maybe a couple of years ago or longer(?), and that's a very busy and manned station. But the lots are so big and spread out, that it would be fairly easy to be inconspicuous. The local police and a guy with the parking authority seem to patrol the lot now, so I haven't seen broken glass in quite some time.

A few years ago, a car theft ring rampaged through Metro Park. It was so bad, I honestly thought the attendents were in on it. I can't remember the car, but I remember the crooks fancied the headlight assembly. A frined of mine lost his headlights three times in 7 months. My car was broken into twice and stolen once.

That's when I started parking at Metuchen. 

[ThirdRail]

Public hearings are set for July 10th and July 15th.


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/forums_explore_railroad_reviva.html

Forums explore Scranton to Hoboken rail revival
by Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger
Wednesday July 02, 2008, 5:00 AM
A pair of public forums will be held on an environmental review of a $551 million plan to revive commuter rails from Scranton to Hoboken by restoring the defunct Lackawanna Cutoff railroad in Sussex, Warren and Morris counties.

The hearings, set for July 10 at Perona Farms on Route 517 in Andover Township and July 15 at the Quality Inn on West Main Street in Stroudsburg, Pa., are necessary to advance construction of the first part of the rail line: a $36.6 million, 7.3-mile stretch of the cutoff from Andover Township in Sussex County to Port Morris in Morris County, said NJ Transit spokesman Vincent Truncellito.

Both public sessions will run from 4 to 8 p.m. and include presentations at 5 and 7 p.m. The hearings are on NJ Transit's recently completed "environmental assessment" of the entire rail line. That review is similar to a 2006 draft showing no major problems but a cost estimate soaring from $200 million more than a decade ago to $551 million.

Last month, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority in Newark approved the 7.3-mile Andover section as the "minimal operable segment" of the line, which put it on track for available federal funding.

Truncellito said the environmental assessment is pretty much the same as the draft.

Once the hearings are over, the Federal Transit Administration will consider issuing a "finding of no significant impact," which is required to start designing the rail section and Andover station. ¶

Construction would still be a few years away. Beyond this section, there are no funding or construction timetables for the rest of the line.

Restoring the 28-mile Lackawanna Cutoff is a key to reviving a 133-mile passenger rail line between Hoboken and Scranton, by connecting the cutoff to NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton and Morris & Essex trains that ultimately link to New York City's Penn Station.

[ThirdRail]

We might actually see this in our lifetime! 


http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080919/COMMUNITIES/809190314/1005/NEWS01

Frelinghuysen, Zellman greet notification that rail effort can advance
Daily Record staff report • September 19, 2008

 WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen and North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority Chairwoman and Sussex County Freeholder Susan Zellman announced a step forward for the Lackawanna Cutoff.


The Federal Transit Administration notified Congress on Monday that it will announce a "finding of no significant impact" along the first segment of the Lackawanna

Cutoff, allowing NJ Transit to move forward on the project.

First segment
The first segment runs 7.3 miles between Port Morris in Roxbury and Andover. Upon completion, the Lackawanna Cutoff will restore passenger rail service between Scranton, Pa. and Hoboken.

"I am pleased that the Lackawanna Cutoff project is taking this critical step forward," said Frelinghuysen, R-Harding. "With gas prices around $4 a gallon, it is important to give commuters greater, more reliable mass transit options. The Lackawanna Cutoff has great potential to get cars off of Route 80 and eliminate other daily traffic jams in northern New Jersey."

'Overcome hurdle'
"Although there is still much more to accomplish, we have overcome a major hurdle and look forward to advancing this portion of the Lackawanna Cutoff to the final design stage," said Zellman.

[ThirdRail]

The project is picking up steam. Will it start before they find other uses for the money??

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20081211/COMMUNITIES32/812110353/1005/NEWS01


Morris company picked for Lackawanna Cutoff
Design for $36.6M first segment to be done by May 2010

By Rob Jennings • Daily Record • December 11, 2008

   
A proposed design for the restored Lackawanna Cutoff train line between Port Morris/Roxbury and Andover will be ready by May 2010, NJ Transit said Wednesday after its board of directors approved a contract with a Morristown company.

The 7.3-mile segment would be the first link in the 88-mile train line to Scranton, Pa., which is aimed at reducing traffic on Route 80 and elsewhere.

Building the single-track rail line from Port Morris to Andover will cost $36.6 million, compared to $551 million for the entire project.

The design company, Jacobs Engineering Group, will be paid up to $5.8 million, NJ Transit said.

Wednesday's announcement came three months after the Federal Transit Administration issued a finding that allowed the first stage of the rail project to proceed.

Designs from Port Morris to Andover will incorporate an existing rail spur off the outer end of the Montclair/Boonton line, NJ Transit said, and include construction of a grade crossing at Brooklyn/Stanhope Road in Stanhope.

In Andover, a 65-car parking lot will be built, NJ Transit said.

The actual start of construction for the long-awaited project has not been scheduled. While supporters of the Lackwanna Cutoff maintain that it would provide another option to long highway drivers to and from work, critics such as the New Jersey Sierra Club claim it will worsen sprawl.

Rob Jennings can be reached at (973) 428-6667 or robjennings@gannett.com.

[ThirdRail]

We haven't had an update on this for a while. Progress is being made.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/nj_transit_unveils_plan_for_ne.html

Proposed Hoboken-Poconos line takes step forward after completion of environmental study
by Mike Frassinelli/The Star-Ledger
Wednesday June 10, 2009, 4:55 PM


A proposal to restore passenger rail service from the Poconos to Hoboken, seen as a way to relieve congestion on traffic-choked Route 80, has inched further along the tracks now that the Federal Transit Administration has completed an environmental assessment.

However, while proponents on the Pennsylvania side of the tracks say the project is as few as four years away, an NJ Transit spokesman cautioned today that there is still no funding for the $551 million project and that the FTA still has to review the environmental assessment and decide whether to issue a "finding of no significant impact."

"With any project of this magnitude, funding is important -- and funding has not been identified," said Joe Dee, the NJ Transit spokesman.

The proposal would restore commuter train service from Scranton, the hometown of Vice President Joe Biden, to Hoboken along the Lackawanna Cutoff, nicknamed for the miles it cut off on train trips between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Proposed stops in New Jersey would be in Blairstown, Warren County, and Andover, Sussex County, which would connect to Port Morris. The 7.3-mile segment from Port Morris to Andover is still in the design and engineering stage.

Dee said a supplemental study that focused on wetlands and habitat along the proposed alignment found no significant environmental impact.

"It moves the environmental assessment process forward," he said.

Once the supplemental environmental study is published by NJ Transit in the next week, the public would have 30 days to comment on those findings, Dee said.

Pennsylvania senators Arlen Specter (R) and Robert Casey Jr. (D) told reporters near Scranton and in Allentown, Pa., this week that the project was progressing and they expected it would be funded.

The $551 million passenger rail project would operate at an annual shortfall of $12.3 million, according to statistics NJ Transit presented at a meeting in Blairstown in 2007.

Although Pennsylvania real estate agents have sold homes on the assumption that commuter rail service would return to the Poconos and the running joke among locals has been that the train would return in "three more years" -- the figure they have been hearing for two decades -- NJ Transit has no timetable for the project.

Nearly nine in 10 projected riders would be from northeastern Pennsylvania, where residents moved to escape prohibitive housing costs in New Jersey, but kept their jobs in New York City and northern New Jersey. Consequently, much of Route 80 has become a parking lot during rush hour in the Garden State.

The Blairstown station is projected to have 280 riders, with the trip to Hoboken expected to take 90 minutes. Andover would have 150 riders and the trip would take 80 minutes, according to NJ Transit projections.

[CrudeBoy]

Did Arlen Specter move back to the Republicans?

[ThirdRail]

The rail line already existed, so there shouldn't be any impact. How much did they spend on this??? 

Lackawanna Cutoff rail line clears environmental hurdle
By Lawrence Ragonese/The Star-Ledger
October 02, 2009, 6:51PM



lackawanna-sussex-rail.JPGMatt Rainey/The Star-LedgerA 2007 photo of the Viaduct which crosses Rt. 80 and the Delaware River near the Water Gap in Warren County. The Lackawanna Cutoff rail line would include a restoration of the viaduct.



The long-planned restoration of the Lackawanna Cutoff commuter rail line from the Poconos to Hoboken, which will run along a route parallel to traffic clogged Route 80, has cleared a key environmental hurdle, officials said today.

After evaluating various environmental studies, the Federal Transit Administration issued a "finding of no significant impact" for the 81-mile segment of track stretching from Andover in Sussex County, westward to Scranton, Pa.

The announcement means work can proceed pending financing for the estimated $551 million project, officials said.

The FTA in 2008 reached a similar conclusion for a 7.3-mile segment from Andover, east to Port Morris, which could link the line to NJ Transit service.

"It is important to give commuters greater, more reliable mass transit options and ... great potential to get cars off of I-80 and eliminate other daily traffic jams in northern New Jersey," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), who announced the FTA’s finding.

The proposal would restore commuter rail service from Scranton to Hoboken along the Lackawanna Cutoff, a line nicknamed for the miles it cut off train trips from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Proposed stops in New Jersey would be Blairstown in Warren County, Andover in Sussex County and Port Morris in Morris County, where the line would connect with existing NJ Transit service.

Restoration of the Cutoff has been in the planning stages for more than three decades, inching through a burdensome bureaucratic process. But the FTA’s finding this week is a major breakthrough for the line, said Norman Ressler, an officer with the Penn Jersey Rail Coalition.

"I’m so elated to hear this,’’ Ressler said last night. "If this is true, we’ve passed a major hurdle. It’s so great."

Proponents in Pennsylvania have estimated the project could start in four years. In June, Pennsylvania senators Arlen Specter and Robert Casey Jr. said the project was progressing and they expected it would be funded.

Frelinghuysen, a lead booster of the line in New Jersey, said he previously secured congressional authorization for the project and that $24 million in federal funding has been allocated for construction. However, that is far short of the estimated $551 million needed, an aide to the congressman said.

The goal of the project, Frelinghuysen said, is to provide commuters with an alternative source of transportation into New York, while reducing traffic congestion and air pollution along Route 80 and other New Jersey highways.

Nearly nine in 10 projected riders would be from northeastern Pennsylvania, where many people have moved to find more affordable housing while keeping jobs in North Jersey and New York City. As a result, portions of Route 80 in western New Jersey are regularly congested during rush hours.

[ThirdRail]

It's about time someone started talking about Pennsylvania's role in this project. Without their contribution, how much will NJ pay for this? What happens if PA doesn't come up for the full funds? Who will pay for the operating crews and maintenance west of the Delaware? There are many questions yet to be answered. 


http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/n-j-says-onus-for-rail-funding-rests-on-pennsylvania-1.604198


N.J. says onus for rail funding rests on Pennsylvania
By Josh Mrozinski AND Roger DuPuis II (Staff WriterS)
Published: February 8, 2010


You still can't get there from here.

While work has gotten under way on an initial seven-mile stretch of route in New Jersey, much more money and political effort are needed to restore passenger rail service from Northeast Pennsylvania to New York City's doorstep - and the onus may fall largely on the Keystone State.

"The ball is in Pennsylvania's court," said Penny Bassett Hackett, a New Jersey Transit spokeswoman. "We don't have a role at this point."

Advocates of the plan to restore service over the former Lackawanna Cut-Off rail route, meanwhile, remain unbowed despite the latest setback in their efforts to secure federal funds.

"I have total confidence in our federal delegation, which is where it lies right now," said Larry Malski, president of the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority.

The long-suffering project was denied another shot at government money two weeks ago, when the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Pennsylvania's application for $401 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, under a high-speed intercity passenger rail program, had failed.

Members of the area's congressional delegation say they will pursue other avenues - possibly through a second round of appropriations in the spring, when the Federal Railroad Administration expects to solicit applications for $2.5 billion in high-speed rail money.

After the federal agency announced funding would not be awarded to the cut-off project, Democratic U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter, and U.S. Reps. Paul Kanjorski, D-11, Nanticoke, and Tim Holden, D-17, St. Clair, met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"There obviously is a great deal to be done to move toward total funding, but last week's meeting was a productive discussion and a good step along the way," Mr. Specter said.

According to a spokesman for Mr. LaHood, the transportation secretary and legislators assessed the application as part of a "general overview" and looked at ways to move forward to secure future high-speed rail funding.

Legislators expect to meet with federal transportation officials again this week or next, Mr. Malski added.

History, ownership

A decade after officials introduced plans to revive passenger rail service from Scranton to Hoboken, N.J., full funding for the essential Lackawanna Cut-Off project - a rail-less stretch of right of way in New Jersey - has yet to materialize, even as New Jersey has begun work on a seven-mile segment of the 28-mile cutoff. It takes its name from the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, which once operated the line.

Passenger service ended in 1970, and freight service over the cutoff died within a decade. Despite objections from regional leaders, then-owner Conrail tore up the tracks and sold the right of way in the 1980s. New Jersey and Pennsylvania later bought back the cutoff route with an eye toward ultimately restoring the missing link between Scranton and metro New York.

Today, the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority owns about 60 miles of rail from Scranton to the Delaware Water Gap, where the tracks end. There begins the 28-mile gap to Port Morris, N.J., where New Jersey Transit's 45-mile line from Hoboken ends. The total trip from Scranton to Hoboken would be 133 miles. From there, riders could transfer to existing rail, bus or ferry services into Manhattan.

Closing the gap

Casey spokeswoman Stephanie Zarecky described the meeting between lawmakers and Mr. LaHood as "a frank discussion about how to advance those projects and what steps need to be taken to make the state's applications more competitive when future decisions are made."

She said a firm funding commitment from the federal government, Pennsylvania and New Jersey is needed to make the project successful.

"It is important to note that New Jersey Transit, which is the nonfederal agency currently serving as the lead sponsor on the project, recently began work on a 7.3-mile stretch of the project in New Jersey," she added. That work will extend the line from Port Morris to Andover, N.J., and is slated for fall 2011 completion.

Questions submitted to the New Jersey governor's office were referred to NJ Transit. Efforts to reach New Jersey's U.S. senators, Democrats Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, were not successful.

NJ Transit limited its role to providing technical information for Pennsylvania's cutoff application, officials said.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Mr. Malski said Sunday that minimal work would be needed to operate regular passenger trains over PNRRA's 60 miles of track, noting that occasional passenger excursions operated by the Steamtown National Historic Site already run between Scranton and Delaware Water Gap.

"That 21 miles - that's where the focus is," he said of the cutoff route between Andover and Delaware Water Gap.

With a rail-friendly president looking to renew the nation's train network, competition for scarce funding in the latest round was fierce: Applications totaling more than $57 billion were submitted, but only $8 billion was available. That U.S. Department of Transportation stimulus money will fund more than 30 high-speed rail projects nationwide.

Pennsylvania applied for $3.1 billion overall, of which it received $26 million to study rail service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and to improve an Amtrak line between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. A magnetic-levitation rail project in Pittsburgh and the Lackawanna Cut-off did not receive funding.

Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau said last week that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's application for the Lackawanna Cut-off did not meet the high-speed passenger rail program prerequisites, but declined to elaborate.

Even if Pennsylvania ultimately secures federal funding, it's likely that state matching dollars will be required, PennDOT spokesman Richard Kirkpatrick said.

"It does not appear likely there will be another round of 100 percent federal dollars available for rail projects, as was offered by the $8 billion" competition, Mr. Kirkpatrick added.

And that's just to get the line built. Operating it is another matter, and as an experienced carrier with a broad network of trains and buses including the Hoboken-Port Morris line, NJ Transit appears to be the most logical choice.

The transit agency's Ms. Hackett said her state is willing to enter into a contract to run the line in Pennsylvania as long as Pennsylvania can secure operating funds - effectively subsidies that will cover the costs riders' fares won't.

"There obviously has to be additional funding in place to operate the service," Ms. Hackett added.

Gov. Ed Rendell's office referred questions about the Lackawanna Cut-Off project to PennDOT.

Describing PennDOT as the conduit through which federal funding would flow, Mr. Kirkpatrick noted that the governor has said he would look for state matching dollars if federal dollars can be secured.

"There are many uncertainties in all of this, including unresolved financial ones, and PennDOT has been taking this a step at a time," Mr. Kirkpatrick said.

Contact the writers: jmrozinski@timesshamrock.com rdupuis@timesshamrock.com