Railroad Seeks to Drop Service

Constantly decreasing passenger service on the Lackawanna Railroad branch serving Netcong, Newton and Branchville will disappear completely if the State Public Utilities Commission grants the request of the railroad company. Application has been made to discontinue all passenger service on the Boonton Branch between Hoboken and Dover, and on the branch which runs from Dover to Branchville and Dover to Washington. Main Line commuter trains between Hoboken and Dover by way of Newark will not be affected. According to P.M. Shoemaker, president of the Lackawanna, the company has lost more than $3,000,000 on the Boonton and Sussex Branches in the past three years. Mr. Shoemaker said that expanding network of highways facilitating the use of private autos and buses, decentralization of business housing and industry, failure of passenger fares to keep pace with costs, and growth of suburban shopping centers have combined to divert or curtail passenger traffic.