Click here to subscribe today or Login.
It’s disappointing that Tom Wolf’s first budget proposal as Pennsylvania’s governor didn’t include funding of the Lackawanna Cutoff rail line between Scranton and New York City.
That means there’s a high likelihood that another year will pass when New Jersey builds a rail line toward a state that’s not keeping up its end of the bargain.
This year, commuters in Andover, New Jersey, will board NJ Transit trains to New York City for the first time in decades. That’s because New Jersey has built its share of the Lackawanna Cutoff rail line to and through Sussex County. It will continue constructing the line toward the Delaware River, where the line will end because Pennsylvania is doing nothing.
Under Tom Corbett, Wolf’s Republican predecessor, prospects of commuter-rail service from our area to metropolitan New York died amid his kept promises of pitching austerity budgets. Even in a state littered with pockets of high unemployment and anemic economic growth, the Lackawanna Cutoff was viewed as a half-billion-dollar excess.
But Wolf positioned himself as the anti-Corbett in many ways – a governor eager to build a sustainable, healthier economy and environment. That his budget plan ignores the Lackawanna Cutoff and follows Corbett’s lead is a real letdown.
During last year’s campaign, in response to a question asking if Wolf would support the Lackawanna Cutoff, Wolf’s team wrote us: “If elected, Tom will work to take better advantage of Pennsylvania as a connective transportation and communications ‘Keystone’ linking local suppliers and U.S. demand centers through improved roads, rails, ports, bridges, pipelines, airports, and communications infrastructure to accelerate economic growth.”
Was that merely a campaign promise or will Wolf follow through? Because the Lackawanna Cutoff project seems to fit perfectly into the governor’s pre-election vision for Pennsylvania.
It’s an embarrassment that New Jersey is building a rail line to Pennsylvania’s border, where it will be met by inaction. Based on Wolf’s campaign promises, we expect more. We hope that comes in the form of finally funding the Lackawanna Cutoff.