Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project
[2] Initial steps have been taken on more phases that would rebuild the remainder of the Cut-Off to Northeastern Pennsylvania and begin train service between New York City and Scranton.
In December 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration accepted the route into its Corridor Identification and Development Program, which allocates money for planning and prioritizes the project for future funding.
The line was considered an engineering marvel—a "super-railroad", in the vernacular of the day—with deep cuts, tall fills, and two large viaducts that allowed a mostly straight route through the mountains of the state's northwest region.
(Conrail officials later said they might not have abandoned the Scranton Route, including the Cut-Off, if the EL had not severed a section of the Boonton Branch near Paterson, New Jersey, in the early 1960s for the construction of Interstate 80.
The Monroe County Railroad Authority in Pennsylvania was also involved, and nearly reached a deal to buy the 88-mile (142 km) section of track between Port Morris and Scranton for $6.5 million.
The railroad authority would have borrowed $4.1 million from the federal government at 3.25 percent per annum and issued bonds to cover the rest of the purchase price plus additional unspecified costs to restore the line.
[4] In spite of initial optimism, the deal began to fall apart, and on August 10, 1983, the U.S. Department of Transportation informed Monroe County officials that the federal loan guarantee had been revoked and would instead go to the financially ailing Detroit & Mackinac Railway in Michigan.
Monroe County officials continued to press their case, hoping that Congress would provide financial support; the railroad authority invited 16 potential operators to submit proposals, and seven did so on August 26, 1983.
[7] Even as this was taking place, Morris County Transportation Department director Frank Reilly made last-ditch attempts to delay track removal in New Jersey.
Also, members of the Conrail track-removal crew later admitted to "dragging their feet" in the hopes that a delay in the track removal might result in the saving of the line.
Turco said that it was during this time that Conrail offered the Cut-Off, which crosses the L&HR on the Pequest Fill near Tranquility, New Jersey, to create a package deal.
Turco eventually accepted the deal to purchase both abandoned rail lines, acquiring nearly 60 miles (97 km) of right-of-way for roughly $2 million.
As such, it was never entirely clear how serious Turco was about his proposed Rebar Landfill or if this was simply a ploy to stir up public opposition and force the New Jersey state government to step in and acquire the Cut-Off by condemnation.
After they approved it overwhelmingly, NJDOT instituted eminent domain proceedings against the corporations that Turco and Goldmeier had established in New Jersey for the Cut-Off.
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) secured initial funding for the restoration of passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City.
[14][15][12] Phase 1 would reopen one track on the once-abandoned line with a speed limit as high as 80 mph (130 km/h) for trains made up of existing NJ Transit diesel locomotives and coaches.
[16] On April 13, 2022, the New Jersey Transit Board of Directors approved a $32.5 million plan to rehabilitate the tunnel and right-of-way to its east and west.
[2] In April 2018, the Andover Township Committee announced that it had reached a tentative agreement with Hudson Farm to buy the land on which the original culvert was located;[21] the purchase was consummated two months later for $115,000.
Beginning in 2020, NJ Transit qualified bidders for the Roseville Tunnel Rehabilitation Project; on April 13, 2022, the agency awarded a $32.5 million contract to Secaucus-based Schiavone Construction.
The study noted that federal funding agencies were still choosing among various proposed rail projects but suggested that service could begin as early as 2028.
[30] This study was initiated in July 2021 when Amtrak entered into an agreement to formally assess the infrastructure, ridership, and revenue of the route in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority, with an approximate $400,000 cost.
[33] In October 2022, Pennsylvania awarded $3.7 million to the Monroe County Industrial Development Authority for replacing 43,000 railroad ties on 40 miles (64 km) of the line west from the Delaware Water Gap past Tobyhanna.
By 2030, it is estimated that NJ Transit commuter service could transport 6,000 passengers a day to jobs in northern New Jersey and New York City.
[40] The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration – Commuter Rail Study, released in December 2019, found that the capital costs for reactivating the railroad from Andover to a new station at Delaware Water Gap would be about $288.93 million.
The figure, which included the cost of reinstalling about 21 miles of tracks, upgrading two major bridges, and other related work, is roughly half the 2006 estimate of $551 million, largely because it excludes building the new stations, maintenance facilities, and other upgrades included in the earlier study that involved work on the additional 55 miles (88.7 km) of railroad between the Delaware Water Gap and Scranton not covered within the scope of the study.
[1] It was prepared by Greenman-Pederson, Inc. of Scranton, PA (supported by sub-consultant Gannett-Fleming, Inc.) for the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority and the Lackawanna County Department of Planning and Economic Development.
Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, Jr., Democrats of Pennsylvania, sent a joint letter to President Barack Obama, seeking support for the extension of Amtrak service to the region.
