Join us for the first Update in 2024, where Chuck will bring us up to date on the NJ Transit project to Andover, the Amtrak Scranton-New York City project, and other projects related to these.
This is VERY promising news! Its been about 6 months ago when this channel's video popped up in my feed about this entire project.....sent me down a rabbit hole into railway topics and honestly has me regretting not getting into the MTA when the door was open for it in 2016 (I've been trucking since 2012) and I was to be trained as a Subway operator (motorman). Water under the bridge now, of course. But for someone whose family has been a NYC transplant to the Poconos, since 96' (I've bounced around a little bit since then individually) THIS was something i always heard grumblings about. To see/hear THIS level of progress is not just exciting, it may give me reason to stick around much longer than i had planned to. I was dead set on heading back south to TX/NC somewhere in that effect. I can always jump into NJT and then perhaps work on this line and have a direct commute service for myself. That would be game-changing for myself and thousands of other NEPA/NJ residents. I'm in my late 30's and in a bit of a crossroads career wise.....railroad seems to be calling. Let's not skip the fact that lines like this create job opportunities for these Covid era babies being born (i have a set of twin nephews who are maybe a month old) every other week lol. And if you've been paying attention, there is very quietly a new railroad boom happening under our noses. Thats a good thing in my opinion. This nation, and Pennsylvania for that matter, has FAR too much track, that isn't being used, or should be used for passenger transportation. As a trucker who has seen it all, not done it all, but seen enough......these roads are super congested. And NO, widening doesn't do a damn thing. Give people an option to park their cars and ride to their destinations. Because the roads have ENOUGH bad, impatient drivers as it is. Especially in this region!
Would be nice to see the Slateford bridge built to resemble the way it used to look, given any modern requirements of course. And Roseville is coming along! Great to see.
Since it's filled in, they could use something called box jacking for the Slateford Bridge. I saw a video of it from "The Roaming Railfan" in FL when they were building Brightline.
@@sevzas Ride share, vans, busses. I was enlightened when I was in Atlanta on business and took MARTA. The amount of company owned vans at the Sandy Springs station used to shuttle employees between the station and the office!
@@sevzasonce Amtrak starts going up the mountain, best you bet there will be cabs outside the stations around arrival times - esp in the warm months! The Poconos are gonna boom again, for sure. 💯
It’s great to see that Pennsylvania got the funding to rebuild the Slateford Bridge. I wonder if they’ll donate the old tracks to a museum or something. After all, it’s probably the last surviving intact section of track from the original Cutoff.
Yow!! That was quick that PennDOT has the money to get that bridge for Slateford Junction replaced and open the right of way up again. And the fact that 43,000 new ties have actually been secured for the right of way on the Pennsylvania side of the Cut-Off is a shocker that I was not expecting to hear.
Thank you for updating us on this. You did a great job of explaining the process. And thank you to your beautiful daughter for her continued work bringing these productions to us. *edit* It is amazing to see the work on the Roseville Tunnel - having explored it about 10 years ago.
I was curious as to how the Roseville tunnel was going to be restored, it's fascinating to see the work in progress. Thanks for sharing the images. Fingers crossed that everything goes as planned.
I got to give you the utmost respect for sticking to your guns and delivering updates and also, seeing that this goes thru. This would be interesting if and when it opens.
Hi! New subscriber. YT put you in my mix today. Good to know that this and other rail projects are happening, thanks to $16B of our tax debt. The downside, by my understanding, is that it will all be under Amtrak? Thanks for music by Spencer Albee. Love the song. I don't recall hearing it before or him before.
Thanks for the update! Always glad the see your videos, have you ever thought of doing some videos on the sussex branch, old green wood lake branch, caldwell branch? Keep up the great work
Hi Chuck, thanks for the update. Very puzzling why PennDOT would fill in the old bridge, since they greatly benefit from this effort. ( Was it past political move in PA? ) Back to politics point, its a big factor, if one side wins all of these Transportation effort are likely going to be a slash and burn effect. ( Lets not stick our head into the sand). On the Texas_Bandit point made on corruption, pls advise on big project questions/blunders, daylight is the best medicine.
From what I heard from a friend at NJDOT is that PENNDOT was "asked" by Conrail to take down the bridge. Conrail held tremendous sway in PA in those days, being headquartered in Philadelphia. And Northeastern PA didn't have the clout in those days.
Has the Existing Roseville Tunnel been "Widened" for Two Opposing Tracks to date, and has the Tunnel Length been "Shortened" to bring its length under 1000 ft. to eliminate the need for Intermediate Ventilation Shafts? Thank you.
@@LackawannaCutOff So NO to Widening, and YES to Length Reduction? Widening is FAR MORE RISKY than SHORTENING! Stability Concerns that can only be answered by Coring and Testing...dangerous in itself!!! Please keep us here in Morris County informed! Thanks!
I'm looking forward to future progress and planning coming out for the first trip of this new service! What do you think the name of the new Amtrak Route should be?
I'm disappointed that it won't be a HSR. But I understand that not all trains can be an HSR. Have a good weekend and I am looking forward to seeing more updates.
I know this is late Chuck, but I hope you see this. You mentioned the Slateford Bridge and the two viaducts. But what is the current news on the Brooklyn Road crossing in New Jersey that is currently at-grade! What are the plans with that?
Did they fill in when they removed the bridge with then the road is on that? If they did that they cant tunnel under the road, they would need to build a temporary road bridge, excavate then build a new bridge. Last i heard about the two viaducts is that they are structurally in decent shape,that the deck bridge and the supports had held up well, with a lot of the work being fixing where the concrete in the structure had cracked off due to water expansion. ( This is what other railfans said, i didn't see the report).
@@LackawannaCutOff Hmm so they are either gonna be running D.P. locos or they'll have to stop and swap power or they are just going to run the P42's for the whole run. This will be interesting to see when they get the route up and running.
I bet you that the Slateford Junction bridge will be built with track underneath and trains running before PennDOT even considers reopening Rt 611 between Slateford and Del. Water Gap...
611 is a disaster for the local economy...Portland and Delaware Water gap. It's also a safety valve for when I-80 has problems, which is like every other day. It's a travesty. Until there's a threat of heads rolling I suspect that this will drag on, as you point out.
I like your videos Chuck, but I think some of them are too long. When I’m in that area, I want to see the Lackawana cut off. It’s nice to see this old rail line turned back into an active one. Nowhere else in the United States have done this to a ripped out line.
Greta Job Chuck! Been watching since your first Vid. Have a small request PLEASE PLEASE DONT DO POLITICAL!!! I am the first to admit that you & I differ on politics. As far as a believer in Pass rail or Gov trans I am not. I support what you are doing because it preserves a big piece of American history. Its so nice to come here and see the updates WITHOUT a bunch of Political squabbling. I just don’t wanna see this channel destroyed by politics. This is kind of a refuge LOL. Come here for great old school American RR stories and photos and a good history lesson!! Also to your lovely Daughter Great Job on the vids! You are a trooper to allow your Dad to drag you out to an overgrown ROW and mosquito habitat to bring us these vids! Keep up the great work.
I try to be fair to both sides. And we have worked with both Democrats and Republicans. But there is no money without going the political route. But, to your point, I will try to delicately discuss the subject.
@@LackawannaCutOff I will give you that you are fair. Hey out of curiosity is the plan for only single track? If so would it not be smarter to double track it? Seems that as long as you have the crews there and that the line actually runs between 2 fairly big cities that Double tracking it would be the way to go. I cant remember what video you spoke of this or the exact details. When you figure the cost of everything seems to me that 21 miles more of track and ties is nothing compared to the cost of bridge replacement and tunnel revamping or the Via duct rehab work.
True. If someone comes in here with preconceived notions, often incorrect, of how this all works, I can only try to set them straight. But often there's more to it than that.
At least you have the right of way. California High Speed Rail spent a decade just fighting NIMBYs and obtaining properties. They still have 25 properties to go in the initial construction sections, but that is minor. In the future is over 30 miles of tunneling. To this point Billions have been spent just to avoid interference to/from freight rail.
They had better not be reducing that tunnel to single track. That would just be SO stupid. Corner-cutting at the cost of capacity is really something that we should be past by now.
@@LackawannaCutOff Future use by freights to get away from overcrowded existing lines? An increase in passenger traffic? Half-hourly NJT plus half-hourly Amtrak equals a train every 15 minutes. If you are building for the next 100 years, you need to acknowledge that possibility in terms of ridership growth.
So sorry, but as long as the footdragging persists, the foot draggers will keep their positions and their high dollar , high benefits positions, and your project will keep being delayed. Graft and corruption, constant studies, new appealls, new insights, etc. etc.. . Good luck getting the project finished.
Hopefully it will never happen. It takes almost 3 hours to get to the city from Hackettstown . Who in their right mind is going to take a 4 or 5 hour ride from the Poconos. Besides destroying nice quiet North Warren. Its a total waste of money which will never pay for itself .🍻
A 15 minute video to tell 3 to 4 minutes worth of on topic information of “What’s in Store in 2024”. Just get to the point without all the blathering. The presenter comes across like a full fledged federal/state bureaucrat - those individuals who take 1,000 words in what could be said with just 100.
@@LackawannaCutOff You surprised me with your reply - actually got your point across in a simple to the point reply in less than 1,000 words. See you can do it without all the blathering.
