Binghamton NY - New York City NYC Passenger Rail Discussion

The Cutoff would open up areas past Blairstown to commuting. I like the way the story says "A Piece of Track Between Lackawanna and Hoboken..." Some "PIECE" of track!! Try over twenty miles worth.

I rode The Cutoff on an excursion in 1973, actually, we FLEW over it. It was a fantastic piece of track. Without The Cutoff, this is a dream.

D/

Sorry to rain on the parade, but is this project really worth the millions necessary to make it happen? There's a much greater need for improved passenger service between Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and points east and south.

Sure, there's plenty of projects everywhere that could use more rail investment... but for now, the topic of discussion is the announcement from Schumer's office that he is pursuing a possible train service from Binghamton.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Money is what it comes down to. The Lackawanna Cutoff (the main link for this new proposed service) is being held up because PA hasn't decided how they are going to fund it. NJ is ready to go. If NY showed up with some bags of cash, it might pressue PA to act. But who knows.

Binghamton and the Southern Tier need mobility options.

-otto-

Are you 100% sure about this?? I had thought that it was PA who actually offered up the money and it was NJT and the state of NJ that had no funding secured. IMHO, PA has already acted so for you to say that they haven't acted is false.

I will still stick to my guns and say- that NJT is lagging with this project because the people in Trenton haven't been talking to the people in Harrisburg on this issue. PA wants to talk, but NJ isn't!

I have no "proof" of who's acting and who's not. It's all talk until I see some TLM's up on the Cutoff laying rail. For more discussion on the Cutoff, please see the thread in the New Jersey Forum.

-otto-

The Cutoff is already on the way... sort-of. The draft environmental assessment was released in January. They need to release the final assessment and then if they get a ruling of "no significant impact" then funding is the only thing left. This is not just idle feasibility studies that people complain about but rather required studies for the project to go forward.

Hey Otto,
You claimed something in one post then claimed to have "no proof" in the question to your first post. The "proof" is NJ and NJT is stalling the project. I'm on committees and speak to project coordinators about it. Its moving along slooowwwlly. They need to hear back from the feds on the DEIS, once thats done..any day now?? then engineering and construction can begin. Estimates anyone? 5 years minimum..10 years max

Which committees? Also, a DEIS, as far as I am aware is not being pursued. An Environmental Assessment was being prepared and presumably submitted to the Feds. This site shows a little bit of the relationship between an EA and an EIS:
NEPA Documentation - Environmental Assessment (EA)

Since when did you people actually start listening to anything I say? Sounds like you had the answer all along.

-otto-

I am on several NJT committees, the northern branch one that has the same people working on the cutoff project. A lot of times "other" projects are brought up in discussion.

Now, back on topic..so what studies will Amtrak do now? ridership numbers studies? will they need to do an Environmental assessment?
How long did Amtrak take to get their service in Maine up and running?

Amtrak would not make a profit as they could only offer service outside the NJT and MNCR serice area's, Schumer does not seem to have a clue about who's track it is or how much is involved to run passenger trains.
Nothing new in politicians just giving their mouth a push without having brain in gear.

Seems to me Schumer is just looking to appease his voters.

What are the current bus ridership numbers between NYC and Binghamton?

No matter how you slice it unless the rail lines become high speed the bus will beat the train route hands down. It would be a LOT cheaper too.

Yeah, but if Schumer wants to foot the bill, they can run trains all over the state for all I care!

Here is where I have to weigh in again and take issue with several statements. Dutch, you are wrong, Mr. Shumer is quite aware of what he is doing. And Railbus, the dollars to be spent are well worth it. The Senator has made his move at the request of those of us in the Southern Tier of New York who have been working on the return of rail passenger service for several years and whose efforts have yielded enough information and mementum that he become involved. In fact, his office as well as all other Federal, state, and local officials and businesses (including railroads) have been working together on this project. The fact that NJT and PA are working to put the Cut Off back in service and provide trains to Scranton in only part of the whole picture. Another study due out later next month focuses on the increased use of NY RT17-I 86 and I 81 for truck traffic and bolsters the need for alternate transportation services for our region. We have been working on assumptions and desires. Both this study and the one Sen. Schumer has asked for are needed to verify our assumptions. He is not blowing in the wind. The thing most people have to know is how great the need is for new passenger services are locally, regionally, and nationally and couple it with the decaying transportation infrastructure. Time is now to plan for the future. Extension of NJT to Scranton rail passenger service is natural. We feel the extension to Upstate New York from Scranton is just as natural.

Mr Schumer is the weathervane of politics, he turns whatever way the wind blows, you won't see Amtrak in Binghamton and schumer has about as much cloud in rail development as us the railfans.
So you and people in Binghamton keep dreaming and eat up these brain schemes at around election time.
The cutoff has been planned for 23 years now and were not closer to trains than at start of project.
If trains from Binghamton have to go to Scranton and then to New york the speed of Farmer Brown and his tractor would beat it.