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Metro-North reduces speeds on Port Jervis Line
As a former Erie Lackawanna New York Div. employee, a problem with the old Main Line through Goshen and Middletown was and today would be parking at the stations. Most riders no longer live within walking distance to the stations. They drive to them and naturally need parking. Some parking would have been available in Goshen on the eastbound side on property formerly used for traffic to or from the branch lines originating there but not in the middle of downtown Middletown. Also there was the question of operating two parallel lines in Orange County. With Conrail’s decision to route former Erie traffic via Selkirk or Harrisburg there was no need for the capacity offered by two lines. The Graham line’s superior engineering, all 79 mph track, won out.
I am not familiar with traffic from the new stations but understand that it is quite satisfactory. Metro North operates considerably more service than the Erie had for decades going back to the the 30’s.
I can’t see the “Port Jervis Line” as being viable, on its present route. If it still went, via the old Erie passenger route, thru Monroe, (Greycourt), Goshen, and Middletown (population centers), instead of the ‘scenic’ northern loop, it would do more business. I wonder what the passenger boarding numbers are on the ‘loop’ stations of Middletown (in name only), Campbell Hall, and Cornwall-Salisbury Mills are. Connecting with M-NR Hudson Line, via the new Tappan Zee Bridge, is a pipe-dream, I guess.
When are we getting service from Binghamton to NYC.