A while back, I came across many articles claiming that the Heartland Flyer would soon be expanded to Kansas City. Now, 2 years later, I can't find anything on why the project was put on hold. Does anyone know what happenend?
In the world of rail, things move at a molasses pace. I remember some guy whose name I forget who, around the time he retired, started pushing for light-rail from Hoboken to Tenafly. The approval for the plan (not to say its actual construction) happened a few days before the guy died. Despite some fairly well spread approval for the plan, and a relatively pro-transit mindset- at least compared to Oklahoma/Kansas.
I often say, I will not believe a train is happening until I see it turn a wheel in revenue service. We have had trains printed in Amtrak's national timetable, even tickets sold, that never ran. The Skyline Connection (a third NY-CHI train via Pittsburgh, after the Three Rivers and Pennsylvanian) comes to mind.
I've been concentrating my efforts on modifying a project in the NJ area known as ARC- a second pair of tunnels from Jersey into mid-30s of Manhattan. I don't even remember exactly how many various Environmental Impact Studies there have been. The "ground breaking" has supposedly already begun.
The Second Avenue Subway has had ground broken on its construction several times. Not only is it not built, there are currently no plans to do so.
Keep in mind, this is in an area where nobody ever talks about "nobody will ride it!" With some 5-6 million riders a day, there is no question about whether New Yorkers would make use of an additional subway line. In fact, in terms of capacity, the system sort of needs it to be built yesterday.
At my group, the Lackawanna Coalition, we have been spending considerable effort for many, many years towards the goal of rebuilding a commuter using the former Lackwanna Cutoff, from Port Morris to Scranton, with hopeful eventual service via Amtrak to Binghamton and, Buffalo and even Chicago (Pheobe Snow?).
The more grander schemes notwithstanding, there is clear demand for service up to at least Scranton. Conrail discontinued service over the line in 1979. Conrail completed removal of the track in 1984. A bond issue by the state of New Jersey for the purpose of acquiring the Cut-off with an eye towards future service occured in 1989. So lets place that as the start of the general plan on the part of the state for this service.
The actual purchase occurred in 1994. In 2006 (12 years later!) the Final Environmental Review was submitted to the FTA. Now, in mid-2009 a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was reached by the EPA, making the project eligable for federal funding.
Finally, a part has been approved for construction. New Jersey is currently working on the restoration of the line from Port Morris Yard to Andover. Of the almost 90 miles of route intended to be restored to service, 7.3 miles have been approved. It has been 21 years since the project has been somewhat adopted by the NJDOT, and all we have finally approved building (but have neither actually built, nor started actual service on) is a 7.3 mile line.
And while our current administration is a bunch of republican jerks who are presiding over a fairly dysfunctional system, compared to OK and KS, New Jersey has a lot of rail.
So don't get your hopes up for anything happening. I personally would be astonished if I can ever ride a train from Hoboken to Scranton via the Cutoff in my lifetime.
