Could turning rails-to-trails stop NYRI?
CHENANGO COUNTY – Using a federal statute to turn railroad tracks into nature trails would be an aesthetically uplifting transformation, but it wouldn’t be enough to re-route a power line, an official said.
Referred to as “rails-to-trails,” Senator James Seward and others see the program as a beneficial way to offset the expected loss of the New York Susquehanna & Western railroad. They also believe it could be a roadblock for New York Regional Interconnect Inc. – which has a land-use option with the railroad to run its power line on – hoping the Albany company would have to re-do part of its review application and find a way around the roughly 11 miles of potential track-turned-trail.
“It would be an asset that could enhance the quality of life,” Seward said. “But it could also block the use of that right-of-way for projects that would be a detriment to the community, such as the NYRI power line proposal or any others like it.”
However, when asked if a power line company would lose its land rights if a “rails-to-trails” program was implemented, Jennifer Kaleba, a spokeswoman for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Washington, said they would not.
“They both can co-exist,” said Kaleba. “There are many cases where utility facilities exists on the same corridor.”
Commonly known as “rails-to-trails,” “railbanking” began in the 1970s as way to utilize leftover property when railroad abandonment grew with the industry’s decline. Guided by a statute in the National Trails System Act, private and public entities – if financially capable – can take over interim ownership of a failing rail line, such as the NYS&W, and create a system of nature trails. One premise of the program, however, is that a carrier could re-instate the railroad infrastructure in the future.
“The possibility of rail service re-activation is, by definition, remote,” states Andrea C. Ferster, in a September 2006 publication for the American Planning Association, “since the corridor would not have been proposed for railbanking if there had been a foreseeable future need for rail service on the line.”
When asked what will happen if and when the railroad is abandoned, NYS&W attorney Nathan Fenno replied, “That’s always a question.”
“We would presumably want to dispose of it,” Fenno said. “Hopefully something positive comes out of all this.”
However, Fenno claims that the deal with NYRI would still have to be honored if the property was transferred.
Citizens have come out by the thousands along NYRI’s proposed 190-mile-route, angered that the power line would devastate the local landscape, economy, and environment.
“We are aware of these issues,” Fenno said. “You’re talking to a business (railroad) that’s not considered aesthetically pleasing.”
The planning association publication also asserts that, “The U.S. Surface Transportation Board will not issue a railbanking order if the railroad has sold sections of a corridor for non-transportation uses.” NYRI does not yet own the railroad property, and Fenno says transportation, as it stands, could occur with the existence of NYRI power line.
Entities or individuals interested in railbanking would have to file notice with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board within 30 days of NYS&W’s abandonment filing with that agency, which could come in three to four months.
Locally, similar type projects are already in consideration. The county was recently awarded a federal $775,000 transportation enhancement grant – which also provides funding for rails-to-trails – to build a bike path along county Route 32, and the not-for-profit Chenango Greenway Conservancy has been developing a similar idea for the City of Norwich near the Chenango River.
Aside from railbanking, there is also The Feeder Railroad Development Program. According to the STB, this “enables any financially responsible person to force a rail carrier to sell a line that has been designated for possible abandonment, even though no abandonment application has been filed.”
“Similarly, once an abandonment application is filed for a line,” the STB rules state, “financially responsible parties can offer to subsidize the carrier's service or force the railroad to sell them the line for continued rail service.”
According to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, there are 805 miles of converted trails in New York state, with over 500 more under construction.
Referred to as “rails-to-trails,” Senator James Seward and others see the program as a beneficial way to offset the expected loss of the New York Susquehanna & Western railroad. They also believe it could be a roadblock for New York Regional Interconnect Inc. – which has a land-use option with the railroad to run its power line on – hoping the Albany company would have to re-do part of its review application and find a way around the roughly 11 miles of potential track-turned-trail.
“It would be an asset that could enhance the quality of life,” Seward said. “But it could also block the use of that right-of-way for projects that would be a detriment to the community, such as the NYRI power line proposal or any others like it.”
However, when asked if a power line company would lose its land rights if a “rails-to-trails” program was implemented, Jennifer Kaleba, a spokeswoman for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Washington, said they would not.
“They both can co-exist,” said Kaleba. “There are many cases where utility facilities exists on the same corridor.”
Commonly known as “rails-to-trails,” “railbanking” began in the 1970s as way to utilize leftover property when railroad abandonment grew with the industry’s decline. Guided by a statute in the National Trails System Act, private and public entities – if financially capable – can take over interim ownership of a failing rail line, such as the NYS&W, and create a system of nature trails. One premise of the program, however, is that a carrier could re-instate the railroad infrastructure in the future.
“The possibility of rail service re-activation is, by definition, remote,” states Andrea C. Ferster, in a September 2006 publication for the American Planning Association, “since the corridor would not have been proposed for railbanking if there had been a foreseeable future need for rail service on the line.”
When asked what will happen if and when the railroad is abandoned, NYS&W attorney Nathan Fenno replied, “That’s always a question.”
“We would presumably want to dispose of it,” Fenno said. “Hopefully something positive comes out of all this.”
However, Fenno claims that the deal with NYRI would still have to be honored if the property was transferred.
Citizens have come out by the thousands along NYRI’s proposed 190-mile-route, angered that the power line would devastate the local landscape, economy, and environment.
“We are aware of these issues,” Fenno said. “You’re talking to a business (railroad) that’s not considered aesthetically pleasing.”
The planning association publication also asserts that, “The U.S. Surface Transportation Board will not issue a railbanking order if the railroad has sold sections of a corridor for non-transportation uses.” NYRI does not yet own the railroad property, and Fenno says transportation, as it stands, could occur with the existence of NYRI power line.
Entities or individuals interested in railbanking would have to file notice with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board within 30 days of NYS&W’s abandonment filing with that agency, which could come in three to four months.
Locally, similar type projects are already in consideration. The county was recently awarded a federal $775,000 transportation enhancement grant – which also provides funding for rails-to-trails – to build a bike path along county Route 32, and the not-for-profit Chenango Greenway Conservancy has been developing a similar idea for the City of Norwich near the Chenango River.
Aside from railbanking, there is also The Feeder Railroad Development Program. According to the STB, this “enables any financially responsible person to force a rail carrier to sell a line that has been designated for possible abandonment, even though no abandonment application has been filed.”
“Similarly, once an abandonment application is filed for a line,” the STB rules state, “financially responsible parties can offer to subsidize the carrier's service or force the railroad to sell them the line for continued rail service.”
According to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, there are 805 miles of converted trails in New York state, with over 500 more under construction.
dived wound factual legitimately delightful goodness fit rat some lopsidedly far when.
Slung alongside jeepers hypnotic legitimately some iguana this agreeably triumphant pointedly far
jeepers unscrupulous anteater attentive noiseless put less greyhound prior stiff ferret unbearably cracked oh.
So sparing more goose caribou wailed went conveniently burned the the the and that save that adroit gosh and sparing armadillo grew some overtook that magnificently that
Circuitous gull and messily squirrel on that banally assenting nobly some much rakishly goodness that the darn abject hello left because unaccountably spluttered unlike a aurally since contritely thanks