64.8 Blairstown 81.6 East Stroudsburg | 77.2 Delaware Water Gap 86.8 Analomink | |
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53 Andover (Phase 1 Terminus) 57.6 Greendell maintenance facility | ||
The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is a New Jersey Transit effort to restore passenger service to the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail line in northwest New Jersey. Its current Phase 1 will extend NJ Transit's commuter rail service from Port Morris Junction 7.3 miles (11.7 km) to Andover, where trains will operate to Pennsylvania Station (New York) and Hoboken Terminal. This phase is technically in progress but on hold, with environmental issues delaying the restart of construction in 2017, with service to begin two years after that. Later phases would rebuild the tracks across the remainder of the Cut-Off and extend service into northeastern Pennsylvania, possibly as far as Scranton.
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Operations (1908–79)
Built between 1908 and 1911 by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (DL&W) to speed service between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York, the 28.45-mile (45.79 km) Lackawanna Cut-Off was the last main line built in New Jersey. 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. Although the DL&W was profitable for most of its corporate life, competition from trucks and other economic pressures after World War II forced it to merge with competitor Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad (EL) in 1960.
The EL initially shifted most freight traffic away from the Cut-Off, though it continued to run passenger trains over the line. The railroad's flagship passenger train, the Phoebe Snow, traveled via the Cut-Off until it was discontinued in November 1966, and the last regularly scheduled passenger train (the Lake Cities) ran over the line in early January 1970. In the early 1970s, freight traffic was revived on the line after the closure of a key junction with the Penn Central in Maybrook, New York. But the conveyance of EL into Conrail on April 1, 1976, gave Conrail excess east–west trackage, and service on the Cut-Off ended in January 1979. (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.)
Early preservation efforts (1979–86)
Efforts to preserve the Cut-Off began almost immediately upon the route's closing. In November 1979, Amtrak operated an inspection train between Hoboken and Scranton to investigate intercity rail service between the two cities. Dubbed the "Pocono Mountain Special", the train left Hoboken and ran west on the Morristown Line on November 13, 1979, reaching Port Morris shortly after 9 a.m. With the main line severed at Port Morris Junction, the special train detoured through Port Morris Yard, ran over Port Morris Wye, and then rolled onto the Cut-Off. The train ran to Scranton, where it was met by a group of political dignitaries. It was the last passenger train in the twentieth century — and the only Amtrak train — to operate over the entire route. The idea of Hoboken–Scranton service faded as Amtrak faced funding shortfalls and the need for significant track and station repairs in order to run passenger service on the line.
The 133-mile (214 km) inspection trip marked the end of one era, and the beginning of another: a 30-plus-year effort to save and then reactivate the Cut-Off. In the beginning, finding an operator for the line was less pressing than preserving the track and right-of-way itself. Several attempts were made to purchase the line from Conrail, which was concerned that a competitor that might try to restore freight service on the route. The Sussex County Freeholder Board in New Jersey pursued such a purchase.
The Monroe County Railroad Authority in Pennsylvania also got 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. The deal would have allowed Conrail to remove about 40 miles (64 km) of track with an option for Pennsylvania, through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), to purchase the second track to Moscow, Pennsylvania, for operations out of Scranton's Steamtown National Historic Site. The agreement stipulated that the railroad operator would repay the loan from operational revenue.
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 Railroad 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. Meanwhile, the federal regulations surrounding the abandonment of railroad lines changed; instead of a lengthy regulatory process that had discouraged railroads from abandoning unwanted routes, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) would be allowed to approve the abandonment of any track if it were not in service and had no originating or terminating shipments for two years, and was not required to serve any other track. This allowed Conrail to abandon the Cut-Off almost immediately. Atlantic City gambling interests also opposed restoring rail service over the Cut-Off, fearing renewed passenger service would provide a "Gambler's Express" to not-as-yet-built casinos in the Poconos that might compete with the nascent casinos of the Jersey Shore. A New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) priority list of rail projects at the time listed the Cut-Off as Number 26 in a list of unfunded capital projects.
The Monroe County Railroad Authority continued to fight Conrail, with support from PennDOT and the somewhat bizarre threat to use a privately owned World War II tank to block any Conrail rail-removal train. Conrail eventually relented and agreed not to sever the line between Slateford and Scranton.
With all regulatory and political hurdles removed in New Jersey, however, Conrail began lifting track on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River Viaduct on June 8, 1984. Even as this was taking place, Morris County Transportation Department director Frank Reilly made last-ditch attempts to delay track removal in New Jersey. In addition, the dismantling was hampered by saboteurs who replaced railroad spikes removed by the crew. These efforts proved to be in vain as the last mainline trackage was removed from the Cut-Off at Port Morris on October 5, 1984. Wooden ties and rock ballast were left in place, which was unusual since Conrail's standard abandonment practice involved removing all components (rails, wooden ties, signals, poles, rock ballast) when dismantling a railroad.
With track removal complete, the 27 miles (43 km) of right-of-way west of County Road 602 (Brooklyn-Stanhope Road) in Hopatcong, New Jersey, was sold to Jerry Turco, a developer based in Kearny, New Jersey. Turco said that he originally had no intention of purchasing the Cut-Off, but rather had learned of its availability from Conrail after he inquired about a 1,000-foot (300 m) section of the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway (L&HR) in Andover, an abandoned line that Conrail also owned. Turco said he wanted to acquire the short section so that he could expand a nursing home operation that abutted the roadbed. Conrail refused to sell the isolated Andover parcel, but offered to sell it if Turco would acquire all of the L&HR right-of-way from Sparta Township to Belvidere, a total of 32 miles (51 km). 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 rail lines, acquiring nearly 60 miles (97 km) of right-of-way for roughly $2 million. Shortly thereafter, Conrail sold the remaining 1 1⁄2-mile (2.4 km) parcel east of Sussex County Road 602 to developer Burton Goldmeier of Hopatcong, who reportedly wanted to use that section of the Cut-Off as an access road to a proposed housing development. (In 1988, Conrail removed the tracks from the L&HR.)
Later preservation and restoration efforts (1986–2008)
Public efforts to save the Cut-Off gained momentum in 1985, after Turco announced plans to move fill material from the Pequest Fill and other large Cut-Off fills for the Westway Project in New York City, and then dump garbage and construction materials into the large cuts. (The Westway Project, as originally proposed, would have required large amounts of fill material, but was abandoned in September 1985.) 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. Either way, the controversial proposal helped galvanize support for preserving the Cut-Off via a $25 million state bond issue for acquiring abandoned railroad rights-of-way that was placed on the ballot in New Jersey in November 1989.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the bond issue and NJDOT instituted eminent domain proceedings against the corporations that Turco and Goldmeier had established in New Jersey for the Cut-Off.
For liability purposes, Turco had established separate corporations for the parcels of right-of-way in each municipality that his section of the Cut-Off ran through: Knowlton, Blairstown and Frelinghuysen townships in Warren County; Green, Byram, and Andover townships and Stanhope and Andover boroughs in Sussex County. In addition, separate corporations had been set up for the Paulinskill Viaduct and the Delaware River Viaduct, as well as for the 1.4 miles (2.3 km) of right-way in Pennsylvania (which was later acquired by Pennsylvania's Monroe County Railroad Authority). In addition to these corporations, Turco created holding companies to oversee these other corporations: Sussex & Warren Holding Company, Inc. and OLC, Inc., (OLC, Old Lackawanna Cut-Off). (On the other hand, Goldmeier's 1 1⁄2-mile (2.4 km) section of right-of-way, which passed through short sections of Roxbury Township (Port Morris and Landing) in Morris County and Hopatcong Borough and Byram Township in Sussex County, was held as one parcel.)
By 2001, New Jersey and Pennsylvania had acquired their respective portions of the Cut-Off for a total of $21 million.
In 2003, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) secured initial funding for the restoration of passenger rail service between Scranton and New York City.
In July 2006, the final environmental review was submitted to the Federal Transit Administration for review and approval. The following February, the Lackawanna County and Monroe County Railroad Authorities were merged to form the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Rail Authority. One of the objectives of the new rail authority was to help expedite the effort to restore passenger service on the Pennsylvania side of the Cut-Off project.
In December 2008, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer sent a letter to the new Amtrak president, Joseph Boardman, expressing his support for Amtrak service between Scranton and Binghamton, New York. In April 2009, U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, Jr. sent a joint letter to President Barack Obama, seeking support for Amtrak service between the two cities. They also cited an Amtrak feasibility study on the subject.
Phase 1 (Port Morris Jct. – Andover)
In May 2008, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) approved funding for Phase 1—also known as the Lackawanna Cut-Off MOS Trackbed Restoration Project, or Minimal Operating Segment, MOS—of the New Jersey Transit proposal to rebuild the first 7.3 miles (11.7 km) of the Cut-Off between Port Morris Junction and Andover. The approval made the project eligible for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for engineering and design work. By 2009, the environmental assessment for the remainder of the project to Scranton was completed, with a "Finding of No Significant Impact" (FONSI) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Andover Extension of the Lackawanna Cut-Off is a $61.6 million project funded by FTA and the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund (NJTTF). To date, the project has been partially funded with a federal earmark grant of $18.1 million, with the balance to be funded using a combination of FTA and NJTTF funds. The project will reopen one track on the once-abandoned line with a speed limit potentially as high as 70 mph (110 km/h) for trains made up of existing NJ Transit diesel locomotives and coaches. Eight eastbound and eight westbound trains to and from Hoboken Terminal will run on weekdays from about 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Additionally, four daily non-revenue trains (deadhead moves) will run in each direction to move equipment to and from Port Morris Yard. No weekend service is planned. The annual cost of operations is estimated at $2.1 million. Among the components of Phase 1 will be the construction of a station on Roseville Road in Andover, which will initially be built with 55 parking spaces, and a 200-foot (67 m) high-level platform. Located about 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from U.S. Route 206 and about 0.9 miles (1.4 km) from Sussex County Route 517, the station site is the area's only land parcel of sufficient size that is at grade with the Cut-Off and near a major highway. No station has existed at this location previously. Initial ridership projections are for a total of 80 weekday riders, rising to 130 average weekday riders by 2030. Rehabilitation work will be required for Roseville Tunnel, which historically has seen ice buildup within and drainage problems and rockslides just west of the tunnel bore.
Project status
Brush removal and general preparation to restore trackage between Port Morris and Andover began in early 2011 after being delayed by a disagreement between the NJ-DEP and NJ Transit over the proposed location for Andover Station. Separately, a small area of wetlands was found near County Route 605 in Stanhope where a stream passes along the north side of the right-of-way. Because of federal regulations that apply to projects that receive federal funding, tree and brush removal is forbidden from April 1 to October 31 due to the mating season of the endangered Indiana bat.
The laying of track began from Port Morris in September 2011. By December 2011, about 1 mile (1.6 km) had been installed west of Port Morris Junction, at which time a Norfolk Southern train delivered the remaining 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of continuously welded rail to the Cut-Off at Port Morris, which will be used to ultimately reach Andover.
As of 2017, about 4.25 miles (6.84 km) of rail, in three unconnected sections (described in the table below), has been laid between Port Morris and Lake Lackawanna. Most of the right-of-way between Port Morris Junction and the lake has been cleared of trees and debris. Currently, a short section from Port Morris Junction on the Cut-Off is being used by NJ Transit for storage of retired rail locomotives.
The project has been delayed by a lack of approval of environmental permits that would allow further work to continue to Andover. Conditional permits were issued in April 2015, and NJ Transit has acquired 3.53 acres of wetlands mitigation credits to compensate for the loss of wetlands in building Andover Station. However, NJDEP has stipulated that approval of any remaining unapproved environmental permits for the Cut-Off is contingent upon agreement of a private landowner (Hudson Farm in Andover, NJ, which is owned by IAT Corporation) to allow NJ Transit to replace an approximately 150 foot (50 m) section of underground pipe on the Hudson Farm property, at no cost to Hudson Farm. The pipe (or "culvert") feeds water into Andover Junction Brook from an upstream wetlands area, and is located about 500 feet (150 m) upstream from Andover Station, past which it flows. The need for the culvert replacement is based upon computer modeling performed by NJDEP for a theoretical 100-year flood. Thus far, Hudson Farm has refused to agree to the culvert replacement work being performed. It should be noted that environmental permits for Roseville Tunnel-related work have been approved, and work for that part of the project may proceed. NJ Transit rail service to Andover is projected to open in 2019.
Future phases
Beyond Phase 1 (Port Morris Jct. to Andover), there are no defined phases or schedules for completion. It is expected, however, that when the line is extended west of Andover that this would constitute Phase 2 and that, depending on available funding, service would be either be directly, or incrementally (in further phases), extended to Scranton, 88 miles (142 km) west of Port Morris. In 2007, the estimated cost for the full build-out to Scranton was $516 million: this would include track, stations, signals and bridgework on the Cut-Off; additional stations and signals in Pennsylvania; and additional locomotives and passenger cars that would be dedicated to this service. The annual operating cost for the full build-out is projected to be $26 million. Cost estimates for building and operating any intermediate phases, if applicable, have not yet been determined. In October 2015, a study to update the 2007 data was requested by the FTA as a prerequisite for project funding west of Andover. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright has been leading the effort to obtain funding for such a study.
The full build-out to Scranton would include:
All stations would have high-level platforms and would comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Service would be scheduled to Hoboken and New York City. By 2030, it is estimated that the service could transport 6,000 passengers a day to jobs in northern New Jersey and New York City.
Commuters traveling to Hoboken using this service would board Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) or Hudson-Bergen Light Rail trains or will have transferred to a NJ Transit Midtown Direct train into Manhattan. (Midtown Direct service will also be available on some trains to and from Andover.)
(* Miles from Hoboken.)