 The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) had reached Phillipsburg in 1852, on the outskirts of the Lehigh Valley, and anticipated extension to Allentown.If a direct route could be built from Allentown to the Susquehanna, western traffic could reach New York faster by this route than by detouring through Philadelphia and coming north over the Camden and Amboy Railroad.Such a route would run parallel to the mountains in the region, and a lateral coal railroad already extended west from the Susquehanna.