Seems to be dead:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-new-york-train-20160908-story.html
I'm a little rusty on the area. Can't trains from Allentown somehow get over to the former CNJ at Phillipsburg, NJ, and come in that way? Or does that also involve a busy single track NS line?
jb
Let me try to give an extended summary of the lay of the land as it exists today connecting it to historical ownerships.
The old CNJ route from Philippsburg to the west has been completely abandoned. Only route available is the ex-LV which is NS today. The CNJ route to the east from P'burg is abandoned upto CP Conn, where the ex-CNJ route from the east now joins the ex-LV now NS route from the east.
On the ex-CNJ route east of CP Conn, the tracks between High Bridge where NJT service terminates today, and CP Conn (actually a place called Valley a little east of CP Conn) is largely abandoned, but in many paces the track is in place the last time I looked. NJT uses the ex-CNJ route from High Bridge to the Aldene Connection as its Raritan Valley Line. NS uses the ex-LV all the way to Newark. At Aldene Connection NJT moves onto the ex-LV to get to CP-NK where they branch off to join the Amtrak NEC at CP Hunter. Incidentally, the old route of the Crusader from Philly joins the ex-CNJ NJT route at Bound Brook, and there has been talks off and on of restarting service to West Trenton on this route.
The other eastbound route from P'Burg is the ex-DLW route to Port Morris, and thence to Hoboken. This route is better maintained (NS to Hackettstown and then NJT). There is NJT service upto Hackettstown on this route, and it is electrified east of Dover via Morristown. This route is now also connected to the NEC at CP-Kearny/CP-Swift - the Midtown Direct connection. What used to be the Lackawanna Cutoff joins this route at Port Morris, and someday maybe there will be service all the way to Scranton and even Bingahmton on that route.
That is pretty much the lay of the land on the LV/CNJ/DLW side of the state. So there is no getting around NS to get from Allentown to NJT territory, and CNJ other than Cranford to High Bridge is gone.
The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton to NYP line was formerly run by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in PA. It ran on their own tracks in PA and on CRRNJ tracks in NJ.. Double and triple tracks still exist in parts of the former CNJ RR line ( now NJ transit) and freight still runs on it, It accommodates freight and passenger service without a problem but in PA (west of Easton) the line was cut back to a single track during the lean years of the 1960's. Today those tracks are heavily utilized.. Norfolk Southern is probably telling the truth that no capacity for passenger service is available. Until there is a second track in PA, (mostly from Allentown to Bethlehem) passenger service would not be possible. Double tracking the line for about a 15 mile stretch would give a clear path to NYP but who pays for it is the question.
I am afraid you are a bit confused about who uses what in NJ. See the notes above. ex-CNJ is NJT RVL (Cranford to White House) and it carries no freight other than local freight delivery and pickup. All the through freight is now on ex-LV, now NS.
At present there are only two viable routes from P'Burg to Newark. One is all ex-LV all NS connecting into the NEC at CP-NK/CP-Hunter. The second is NS from P'Burg to Hackettstown, then NJT from there to Hoboken via Newark Broad Street, or alternatively New York via the Midtown Connection at CP-Kearny/CP-Swift. The latter will require a loco change from Diesel to Electric at Dover or use of dual mode engines.
A third possible route would involve reconstructing the track from CP Conn to High Bridge (assuming encroachment has not made that impossible) and getting the train from P'Burg to Newark largely on newly built track and existing NJT. But that is a lot of extra money, and I doubt anyone in NJ will pay for it.
The best bet might be to work with NS to make improvements, or rather contribute to additional improvements over and beyond what NS is already doing and run the service entirely on NS to the Hunter connection. Hence the original choice of the routing for the test run which did not happen.