Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project

v t e Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project
Legend
MP.0 NS Sunbury Line to Binghamton NS Sunbury Line to Northumberland Lackawanna River Heritage Trail (CNJ) Lackawanna River NS Carbondale Line (D&H) 133.1 mi 214.2 km Scranton 107.6 mi 173.2 km Tobyhanna 100.3 mi 161.4 km Pocono Mountain 86.8 mi 139.7 km Analomink 81.6 mi 131.3 km East Stroudsburg 77.2 mi 124.2 km Delaware Water Gap DL Pocono Line 74.3 Slateford Junction Stroudsburg Secondary (DL&W Old Road) 73.0 Delaware River Viaduct PA NJ I-80 Susquehanna Railroad Lehigh and New England Railroad Paulinskill Viaduct (Paulinskill River) Paulinskill Valley Trail (LNE & NYSW) 64.8 mi 104.3 km Blairstown 60.7 mi 97.7 km Johnsonburg 57.6 mi 92.7 km Greendell maintenance facility Lehigh and Hudson River Railway Sussex Branch Phase 2 Phase 1 53.0 mi 85.3 km Andover Roseville Tunnel Musconetcong River to Port Morris Yard Morris Canal 45.5 Port Morris Junction MOBO to Hackettstown Lake Hopatcong MOBO 0.0 Hoboken Terminal

The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is a New Jersey Transit and Amtrak effort to restore passenger service to the Lackawanna Cut-Off in northwest New Jersey.

Started in 2011, Phase 1 of the project is extending NJ Transit's commuter rail service 7.3 miles (11.7 km) from Port Morris Junction in Morris County to Andover in Sussex County, with the latter seeing its first passenger trains for the first time in more than half a century. Service from Andover to Hoboken Terminal and New York Penn Station is expected to begin in 2026.^[1] Service to the latter will require electro-diesel locomotives (such as NJ Transit's Bombardier ALP-45DP locomotives) because the North River Tunnels cannot accommodate diesel engines.^[2]

Initial steps have been taken on more phases that would rebuild the remainder of the Cut-Off to Northeastern Pennsylvania and begin train service between New York City and Scranton. In 2020, Amtrak included the route in its 15-year expansion vision. In December 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration accepted the route into its Corridor Identification and Development Program, which allocates money for planning and prioritizes the project for future funding.