The full story is here."It's not easy," says Carol Santana, an Allentown woman who uses the bus to commute to her job as a hospital aide in New York City.The trip usually takes more than two hours, although Santana recalls a few times when its duration flirted with the four-hour mark.
Santana, along with scores of others from the region do it anyway. There aren't too many other options for those who call the Lehigh Valley and northwestern New Jersey home while collecting their paychecks from high-paying jobs in the Big Apple.
The bus services offered to and from the region are plentiful, and many of the New York City commuters use them religiously. They also have the option of driving into the city themselves.
A third and seemingly practical option would be passenger rail. It's an option that has eluded area commuters for years. With the exception of a few isolated services offered on the fringes of Warren and Hunterdon counties, the region is without passenger rail.
NJT/Extension of service to Allentown, PA
#1
Posted 04 April 2004 - 10:12 AM
New York, NY/Philadelphia, PA
#2
Posted 24 November 2004 - 01:15 PM
The full story is here.PHILLIPSBURG -- Every morning, while creeping along in traffic on Interstate 78, David DeGerolamo realizes the need for passenger rail service in Phillipsburg and the surrounding areas.
His daily commute to Essex County takes at least an hour and 45 minutes.
New York, NY/Philadelphia, PA
#3
Posted 24 November 2004 - 01:31 PM
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#4
Posted 24 November 2004 - 07:52 PM
#5
Posted 30 December 2004 - 06:24 PM
The full story is here.Officials say conditions merit rail service study
New Jersey Transit ended commuter rail service in Phillipsburg in December 1983, only months after taking it over from Conrail. There wasn't enough ridership to support the line, which stopped behind the Noto-Wynkoop Funeral Home on S. Main Street and traveled to Newark, where riders could transfer to trains heading into New York.
Officials believe conditions have changed enough to merit another look at restoring the service to Phillipsburg. The town needs to find another $600,000 to come up with the $1 million to pay for the study.
New York, NY/Philadelphia, PA
#6
Posted 23 March 2007 - 07:02 AM
Yeah, and let's bring back train service to Phillipsburg!
Sloan
#7
Posted 23 March 2007 - 10:08 AM
Wrong. Most RVL trains end in Newark, and on weekends every other train goes onward to Hoboken. It will take either dual mode locomotives or overhead catenary along the entire line to bring RVL trains into Manhattan. That is assuming there are slots for them when the new tunnel and 34th Street station open.The Raritan Valley line extends through Newark and Manhattan.
Phillipsburg should be an obvious goal. We keep on hearing about the fact that when I-78 was extended into Pennsylvania, it breached the former RVL right-of-way. Why they did not have the foresight to build an overpass or underpass at that time remains a mystery. But as a mitigator to traffic, rather than widening the freeway, get that overpass built soon so that rail service can resume.
IMO service probably should not stop at Phillipsburg, but it should extend into Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#8
Posted 26 March 2007 - 06:25 PM
The Raritan Valley line extends through Newark and Manhattan.
Phillipsburg should be an obvious goal. We keep on hearing about the fact that when I-78 was extended into Pennsylvania, it breached the former RVL right-of-way. Why they did not have the foresight to build an overpass or underpass at that time remains a mystery. But as a mitigator to traffic, rather than widening the freeway, get that overpass built soon so that rail service can resume.
IMO service probably should not stop at Phillipsburg, but it should extend into Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.
Kevin and Sloan,
Extending the RVL to Phillipsburg and beyond would indeed be very exciting. This line once saw daily service to Allentown! With the ever-growing traffic congestion in the I-78 corridor this is an obvious option.
I'm not sure what engineering would be required to re-establish the severed right-of-way. I believe this section of the line was already out of service when I-78 was built, thus it was far more economical to cut the line than provide infrastructure for an unused rail line, along with the attendant maintenance costs that would have been incurred over the years. Lets hope that the I-78 engineering didn't result in some extraordinary requirements and cost to re-establish the rail line.
Ross
#9
Posted 11 September 2007 - 08:27 AM
http://www.nj.com/ne...x....xml&coll=1
Sloan
#10
Posted 11 September 2007 - 12:28 PM
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users