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Posted by
Olog-hai
on Sat Jun 14 01:08:37 2008
edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d Politicians are sure getting chatty about rail service restorations. Who knows what they'll come up with next?
Morning Call
Vision of Easton-NYC train service discussedPreliminary talks suggest a panel to find funding.
By Jarrett Renshaw | Of The Morning Call
June 13, 2008
State and local officials from Pennsylvania and New Jersey met at Lafayette College on Thursday to discuss the possibility of providing train service from Easton to New York City.
Officials who attended the meeting were quick to describe the plans as ''preliminary'' and ''informal.'' But they said such train service is much more plausible today thanks to high gas prices driving up demand for public transportation, along with New Jersey Transit's plans to build a new tunnel into Manhattan that would double the number of trains going in and out of the city.
''This is not something that's going to happen soon, or without a lot of work, but I think people are optimistic and are willing to give it a try,'' said Michael Dowd, a vice president with the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and a Northampton County councilman. He said any plan is still ''years away.''
Roughly 30 people attended the meeting, including Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr., Phillipsburg Mayor Harry Wyant, state Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton; and representatives from the offices of state Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery; U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th, and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Dowd said.
Panto and Freeman deferred all questions to Dowd. The meeting also included officials from New Jersey Transit, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and Lafayette.
Officials interviewed Thursday said they did not discuss specific details, such as the cost of the project. Instead, they focused on potential obstacles and strategies to hurdle them.
Dowd said officials agreed they must form a commission to help identify funding sources and show that NJ Transit support is unified.
Among other things, he said the commission would look at getting NJ Transit access into Pennsylvania, environmental and right-of-way issues and determining which tracks can be used and which need to be repaired or built.
The majority of the meeting was spent discussing a strategy that would help link Phillipsburg with New York City, Dowd said.
''If we don't get the train to Phillipsburg, we are not getting it to Easton,'' Dowd said.
In September, NJ Transit's board approved a $1.2 million study of public transportation improvements in the state's Raritan Valley and Interstate 78 corridor. Among other things, the study — to be completed by the end of the year — will look at the viability of providing train service from Phillipsburg to existing lines at High Bridge or Hackettstown.
''Pending the results of the study and funding resources, we will then decide what the best course is to take,'' said NJ Transit spokesman Joe Dee.
The study does not look at possibly expanding service to Easton, Dee said. Extending the line across state borders will not be easy, he said.
There was a time when passenger train and trolley services connected the Lehigh Valley with New York. Direct passenger service between New York and the Valley ended in 1961.
NJ Transit is also considering introducing a train line along the Interstate 80 corridor from Scranton to Hoboken, N.J., and then to Manhattan. NJ Transit officials said the timeline for construction of that line will depnd on available funding.
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