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I think its good for the PA cities like Allentown/Easton/Scranton.
Makes a lot more sense now then it did 10 years ago with partial WFH being so widespread and various technological changes. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to take the train from Allentown to Manhattan twice a week.
Last edited by GiantRutgersfan; 12-07-2023 at 10:43 AM..
I think its good for the PA cities like Allentown/Easton/Scranton.
The Lackawanna Cutoff does not have anything to do with rail to Easton/Bethlehem/Allentown. The Lackawanna Cutoff is part of the line that crosses the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap and heads to Scranton.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GiantRutgersfan
Makes a lot more sense now then it did 10 years ago with partial WFH being so widespread and various technological changes. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to take the train from Allentown to Manhattan twice a week.
You could also turn that around and say with hybrid work from home schedules you will never have enough passengers to justify the cost of building and maintaining rail service.
The current closest NJT rail station is High Bridge, NJ, on the Raritan Valley Line. A 6:11am to NY Penn takes 1:50 with a switch in Newark Penn (barring unforeseen delays). Drive time from Easton to High Bridge is roughly 30 minutes so the total commute time is closing in on 2:30.
There are multiple bus choices, for example - Easton, PA, to NY Port Authority (7am- 8:50). If you want to park at the William Penn Park and Ride you need to add 30 minutes.
With the bus currently quicker than the train from High Bridge, NJ, if you are leaving from Easton, connecting Easton to High Bridge by rail would be an incredible boondoggle and completely unjustified.
There will never be enough demand to restart rail from ABE metro (population 871K) to NYC. There is even less reason to connect to Scranton metro (population 568k). Clearly, there is something else driving the Lackawana Cutoff $$$ besides passenger service.
The Lackawanna Cutoff does not have anything to do with rail to Easton/Bethlehem/Allentown. The Lackawanna Cutoff is part of the line that crosses the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap and heads to Scranton.
You could also turn that around and say with hybrid work from home schedules you will never have enough passengers to justify the cost of building and maintaining rail service.
The current closest NJT rail station is High Bridge, NJ, on the Raritan Valley Line. A 6:11am to NY Penn takes 1:50 with a switch in Newark Penn (barring unforeseen delays). Drive time from Easton to High Bridge is roughly 30 minutes so the total commute time is closing in on 2:30.
There are multiple bus choices, for example - Easton, PA, to NY Port Authority (7am- 8:50). If you want to park at the William Penn Park and Ride you need to add 30 minutes.
With the bus currently quicker than the train from High Bridge, NJ, if you are leaving from Easton, connecting Easton to High Bridge by rail would be an incredible boondoggle and completely unjustified.
There will never be enough demand to restart rail from ABE metro (population 871K) to NYC. There is even less reason to connect to Scranton metro (population 568k). Clearly, there is something else driving the Lackawana Cutoff $$$ besides passenger service.
Well Amtrak is on board to restore service between NYP and Scranton. Though with a nearly three hour travel time one could make the trip faster by driving.
Well Amtrak is on board to restore service between NYP and Scranton. Though with a nearly three hour travel time one could make the trip faster by driving.
The US should have a new, dedicated, electrified high speed rail network as exists in Europe, Japan and China. But it 's a pipe dream. The creeps in Congress would much rather spend money on endless wars. Biden has asked Congress for $110 billion for wars in Ukraine and Israel and the creeps in Congress will fall all over themselves to comply.
The US should have a new, dedicated, electrified high speed rail network as exists in Europe, Japan and China. But it 's a pipe dream. The creeps in Congress would much rather spend money on endless wars. Biden has asked Congress for $110 billion for wars in Ukraine and Israel and the creeps in Congress will fall all over themselves to comply.
Electrification of rail ROW only makes economic sense where traffic density justifies expense of designing, installing and maintaining.
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and Milwaukee Road electrified large sections of their ROW early in last century, but there motives were largely to find an alternative to steam powered locomotives. New York Central electrified parts of its ROW (mainly from GCT to Croton Harmon, but other segments of commuter service as well) again either because of laws banning steam/diesel or other reasons.
Few areas outside of Amtrak's NEC have anywhere near density of passenger rail traffic to remotely justify putting trains under wires.
Whole range of persons from local residents to environmentalists and others will have fits if any RR or whoever attempts to run wires and catenaries along vast stretches of ROW.
Before anyone even goes there no freight RR in USA is remotely interested nor needs electrification of their ROW.
In Europe and Asia where you don't have vast reserves of oil or natural gas and electricity came to dominate power for railroads after steam was phased out, well that's another story. These areas still have diesel however.
That boondoggle otherwise known as California's HSR is supposed to be electrified in whole or part. Indeed this must occur for trains to reach desired speeds along certain sections (such as mountains). How or will they pull this off remains to be seen.
Leaving aside niggles such as max speed, potential environmental concerns and other bits diesel electric locomotives suit American railroads more than electric powered by overhead wires.
This is why you have not seen any huge effort until recently towards expanding over head wires on RR ROW.
Electrification of rail ROW only makes economic sense where traffic density justifies expense of designing, installing and maintaining.
I wrote new dedicated rail lines. Freight railroads don't want passenger trains screwing up their schedules. Amtrak schedules outside of the NEC are a joke. Some trains are days late.
The Pennsylvania Railroad got its electricity from the Safe Harbor Dam on the lower Susquehanna River. That power is still used today by Amtrak, SEPTA and parts of the NJT. It's environmentally friendly.
Speaking of the movement of freight, almost all freight transportation is fossil fueled. The only exception is a tiny railroad called the "Iowa Traction Company."
The US has no national energy policy. You could never get such a program through the Congress. For those who say that we don't need electrified railroads because we have planes and cars, airplanes and cars are the two most polluting forms of transportation per passenger kilometer.
The US should have a new, dedicated, electrified high speed rail network as exists in Europe, Japan and China. But it 's a pipe dream.
There is zero justification for high speed rail in the USA mainly due to the cost. Between the political decisions, landowners/nimbys with lawyers, topography, environmental issues, lack of population density, and the already existing network of air travel and highway travel, there is no way to justify HSR.
It is now 15 years into California's attempt at HSR between LA and SF and they are only working on 119 mile section out of 500 miles. They have already spent over $9.8 billion.
"Estimates suggest it will cost between $88 billion and $128 billion to complete the entire system from LA to San Francisco." https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/17/why-...-complete.html
Estimates for the Texas High Speed Rail 240 mile route between Houston and Dallas are now around $30 Billion or $125 Million per mile. After about a decade, there is still no funding and now they are trying to bring in Amtrak to support this money loser. https://www.enr.com/articles/57000-a...d-rail-project
China's HSR is one of the reasons for the Chinese economy sucking wind due to the enormous debt of $900 BILLION or equivalent to about 5% of China's gross domestic product. Also, unlike the US, China never has to deal with any land ownership or environmental issues about where to site the track. China also has way higher population density vs the USA. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tra...take-back-seat
There is no funding or need for any new HSR in the USA.
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