Amtrak Lackawanna Service and Lackawanna Limited (Includes Empire/Massachusetts Service updates)

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Amtrak57

Train Attendant
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
36
With the Lackawanna cutoff waiting to be restored, I have decided to come up with a proposal that would bring rail service to the Lackawanna cutoff witch would allow rail service to operate in Northeast Pennsylvania and Southern New York with serving Stroudsburg, Scranton, Binghamton, Ithaca, and many more towns and cities in the area.

The Lackawanna Corridor would be a short-distance rail corridor that would consist of track between New York City and Ithaca, NY. The corridor would begin at Penn Station, NY, use the NJT Morristown line till just east of Lake Hopatcong and would use the Lackawanna cutoff to continue on to Scranton, north to Binghamton and end at Ithaca. The stops that Amtrak trains would make along the corridor would be, New York Penn Station, Newark Broad Street, Morristown, Dover, Stroudsburg, Pocono Summit, Scranton, Binghamton, and Ithaca. The entire route between Penn Station and Scranton and most of the route between Scranton and Ithaca would be double-tracked and every station between Penn Station and Ithaca would have hi-level platforms. (Morristown could have hi-platforms added as well) Most of the tracks would also be upgraded with new tracks on the Lackawanna cutoff and between Binghamton and Ithaca.

There would be two new services on this corridor; the Lackawanna Service, the short-haul service, and a long-distance route, the Lackawanna Limited. Most of the Lackawanna service trains would operate only between Penn Station and Scration with four round trips each day would operate north, three trips would go to Ithaca while one round trip would go west to Niagra Falls. These trips would split at Binghamton. The Niagra Falls trip would make these stops west of Binghamton; Waverly, Elmira, Corning, Hornell, Attica, Buffalo-Depew, Buffalo-Exchange Street, and Niagara Falls. The final service would the Lackawanna Limited, a long-distance route from Penn Station to Chicago making all of the stops of the Lackawanna service between Penn Station and Hornell and would make stops at Wellsville, Olean, Salamanca, Jamestown, Corry, Union City, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Elkhart, South Bend, and Chicago. Due to this, the Lake Shore Limited would have it's NYC portion eliminated and would only run between Boston and Chicago. An Empire service train would still connect with the Lake Shore Limited at Albany. Overall, there would be 11 round trips on the corridor on weekdays and 9 round trips on weekends. All trains with the exception of the Lackawanna Limited would have unreserved seating between Penn Station and Scranton and reserved section for destinations north of Scranton. The Lackawanna Limited would always have reserved seating.

Below is the link to the schedules of the trains. Travel times are approximate and are subject to change.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sZOfZNYFYAiCxoSn5ETMSG-BbX3mn9tnP_m3xUi4RiQ/edit?usp=sharing
 
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As someone who lives in Northeast PA, I would love train service like this in my area. Frequent service to New York City and an LD train to Chicago? Yes!
 
That would be one of my wildest dreams come true. 😍The Steamtown Marketplace could be converted into a train station; the mall's dying, it has train tracks literally right behind, is adjacent to Steamtown NHS and Scranton Intermodel, and has ample parking. Sadly Scranton will be lucky to get an NJT extension or piggy on a Southern Tier corridor.😣
 
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