BRING PASSENGER SERVICE BACK TO SCRANTON?

The Erie-Lackawanna Railroad got rid of all its intercity passenger service (apart from a notionally commuter service serving Cleveland) long before Amtrak, and Conrail decided to consolidate the rail freight service on New York Central's Water Level Route, with Erie's line across the Southern Tier of New York state being the relief line.  That meant a piece of early twentieth century super railroad, the Lackawanna Cutoff in the Delaware River valley, was deemed redundant, and the tracks came up.

Passenger Rail advocates in the area might be hoping that Amtrak Joe is also Scranton Joe, and they'll print some money.

A recent study called “the “Lackawanna Cutoff Restoration Commuter Rail Study” pegs the cost at $288.93 million, far lower than the $551 million estimate in a 2006 study. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, whose office helped cobble together about $1 million in local, state and federal grants to help pay for the new study, called it “inching forward” in restoring a train service.

The article includes a picture of the Paulins Kill viaduct, one of several concrete viaducts Lackawanna built, and the author no doubt hopes to see trains on it again. That is, if forty years of neglect of the drains and the foundations haven't made the viaduct no longer safe for trains.