Amtrak Proposes Adding New Service to Scranton

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2023 6:51 amAll of this to serve what - a declining region that can claim for another fourteen months that it was the one-time home of an incumbent POTUS, as well as same for several members here who are rather vocal about their distaste for driving.

Sorry, none of this warrants committing large amounts of public funds to a region that has not seen a scheduled passenger train since pre-A-Day.

And having now become one of those pesky, annoying rednecks in PA, most of the locals here really hope this boondoggle goes away. There is zero demand out here to go to NYC (nevermind on a regular basis!), and honestly, most people out here (myself included), don’t want the region to become any more West New Jersey than it already is. A more pressing need is some better regional transportation. The coal region has a bunch of sloppy local bus transit lines, but poor town-town interchange.

A twice a day Amtrak train to NYC serves nobody out here, and I doubt most folks out east want to go to Steamtown desperately enough to justify a few billion dollar outlay.

Looks like the restoration of service to Scranton just got a green light from the FRA

https://www.casey.senate.gov/news/relea ... il-service

Train60 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 2:47 pm Looks like the restoration of service to Scranton just got a green light from the FRA

https://www.casey.senate.gov/news/relea ... il-service

The green light is to spend study money to see where the route would fall on the list of priorities on what gets money to get studies done over the next five years. Since it needs 28 miles of restored track and bridge work I would guess it would be right at the bottom of the pile.

Nasadowsk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 5:17 am

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Dec 03, 2023 6:51 amAll of this to serve what - a declining region that can claim for another fourteen months that it was the one-time home of an incumbent POTUS, as well as same for several members here who are rather vocal about their distaste for driving.

Sorry, none of this warrants committing large amounts of public funds to a region that has not seen a scheduled passenger train since pre-A-Day.

And having now become one of those pesky, annoying rednecks in PA, most of the locals here really hope this boondoggle goes away. There is zero demand out here to go to NYC (nevermind on a regular basis!), and honestly, most people out here (myself included), don’t want the region to become any more West New Jersey than it already is. A more pressing need is some better regional transportation. The coal region has a bunch of sloppy local bus transit lines, but poor town-town interchange.

A twice a day Amtrak train to NYC serves nobody out here, and I doubt most folks out east want to go to Steamtown desperately enough to justify a few billion dollar outlay.

Three trains a day actually and it received additional funding awards with the latest round. What really helps this project is that NJT is restoring a good chunk on their own and the section in Pennsylvania can be rehabbed relatively easily.

Dunno about "good chunk", 7 miles out of 28 is just a quarter. The remaining 21 miles are unfunded and unscoped, especially for the viaduct structures.

Here is Chuck Walsh's update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1AJBij49vk