Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration (Port Morris–Andover)

Alignment

The Lackawanna Cut-Off was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad between 1908 and 1911 as a 28.5-mile shortcut across northwest New Jersey toward Scranton and Buffalo. Conrail ended service in 1979 and removed the track in 1984. NJ Transit’s first phase restores 7.3 miles of single track from Port Morris Junction in Roxbury Township, near the end of the Montclair-Boonton Line at Lake Hopatcong, northwest past Lake Lackawanna and through the roughly 1,000-foot Roseville Tunnel in Byram Township to a new terminal station at Andover.

The Andover station is planned on Roseville Road in Andover Township. The Phase 1 service plan calls for eight weekday trains in each direction to Hoboken and/or New York Penn Station, using diesel equipment, with no weekend service. The ~$32.5M Roseville Tunnel contract covers a new tunnel liner, about 8,000 feet of track bed, drainage, tunnel lighting and communications, rock-slope stabilization, and replacement of the Hudson Farm and Junction Brook culverts.

Extending the line west to Blairstown, the Delaware Water Gap and Scranton remains on the books but has no financing or timetable. Separately, Amtrak and the Pennsylvania DOT are studying intercity service between Scranton and New York over the Cut-Off.

Updates

2026-10 — Station now targeted for 2031; $19M funding gap

Rep. Josh Gottheimer announced a $500,000 federal security grant to fence and monitor the Andover site after reports of vandalism and trespassing near the Roseville Tunnel. The project’s estimated cost is now $112.5 million, with $94 million secured. NJ Transit plans to close the $19 million gap with state Transportation Trust Fund money and toll credits. Station design is expected to be complete by January 2028, before construction bids go out, and Gottheimer said station construction is targeted for completion in August 2031.

2025-05 — Tunnel work nearly done; station depends on rock cuts

Apart from communications work, including a new antenna, the Roseville Tunnel rehabilitation was complete, and both culverts had been replaced. The next step was to assess the stability of the rock walls in a cut between the tunnel and the station site. NJ Transit said the station timeline depends on how much of that sidewall needs remediation.

2024-06 — Tunnel liner nearly complete

Work to install a liner in the century-old tunnel was nearly finished. NJ Transit said 7.5 miles of track had already been laid, with the rest to be installed near the end of construction. Completion was then projected for fall 2026, with the Andover station as the last major piece.

2022-04 — Roseville Tunnel contract awarded

On April 13, 2022, the NJ Transit board approved a contract of about $32.5 million with Schiavone Construction Co. of Secaucus for final design, construction and commissioning of the Roseville Tunnel rehabilitation. NJ Transit expected the Port Morris–Andover project to be complete in late 2026. Work began after a notice to proceed in September 2022.

2021-07 — Phase 1 budget reaffirmed at $61.6M

NJ Transit reaffirmed a $61.6 million cost for the Port Morris–Andover phase, funded by an $18.1 million federal earmark, FTA funds and the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund. As of 2022, about 4 miles of track had been laid west of Port Morris in four disconnected sections.

2011-09 — Track laying begins at Port Morris

After brush clearing earlier in 2011, crews laid the first new track at Port Morris. Environmental permits, including a long dispute over a culvert on private land that was settled in 2017, then held up the project for several years.