Stop the train I'm leaving

It seems like every time someone tries to resuscitate any segment of New York’s once-booming rail system, there’s some act of legislative incompetence or freak of nature that, metaphorically speaking, seems to derail it. Such appears to be the case with Saratoga County Economic Development Corporation’s lengthy attempts to revive scenic passenger trains from the Spa City to North Creek.

On the outside, the plan seems simple. Consolidate an already-existing 54-mile stretch of rail, pump in some federal dollars and pretty soon packs of cognac-sipping skiers will be jumping aboard 60s-era diesel trains in Saratoga Springs for a quick ride up to the trails at Gore Mountain.

Warren County took the first plunge back in 1999, successfully running a train south from North Creek down an 8-mile stretch of track to the small hamlet of Riparious. Then last week, the Upper Hudson River Railroad ran its first train to Stony Creek, which is about 28 miles further south or about half the distance between Gore and Saratoga Springs

But nearly a decade after late-Congressman Gerald Solomon proposed the idea of a two-county scenic rail line, the Saratoga connection continues to falter for one reason or another. The most recent snag has left a paltry 300-foot segment of the proposed trail route quite literally hanging in mid-air.

As many might recall, a sudden down pour in May lead to the breach of what was widely reported as a beaver dam, causing more than $100,000 worth of damage to roads in the town of Greenfield. But it turned out to be the 16-mile segment of rail bed purchased by the town of Corinth last winter that was responsible for holding back the water –although some officials maintain the beavers were responsible for plugging culverts that would have otherwise drained the situation.

Now, as both the Times Union and Daily Gazette have reported, the segment of tracks hangs uselessly in the air and requires untold amounts of repair. Canadian-Pacific apparently has a one-year deal with the town to maintain the tracks, but Corinth officials haven’t been able to contact them for one reason or another. And chances are pretty good that neither side is in any rush to discuss the washed-out rail bed.

It’s highly unlikely that any of the private or public lands affected by the ruptured bed had flood insurance, meaning most if not all of the losses suffered went uninsured. This means whichever entity fesses up to the responsibility of maintaining the tracks could very well end up in lengthy litigation with anyone of the many who sustained damage from the cascading rainwater.

Given this quandary, the Saratoga-Gore rail line is likely to languish as either an afterthought or in litigation of some kind, an unfortunate circumstance given the modest success Warren County has experienced with their segment of the railroad.

Such trains are quite the boon for small rural towns struggling to maintain themselves in a state nearly devoid of industry. This isn’t even considering the planned $200 million ski bowl expansion at Gore, which proposes to bring a gondola within walking distance of the North Creek train station. That could turn out to be a tourism gold mine for any of the municipalities located along the paltry 26 miles of rail remaining between the city and the slopes.

But without someone cracking the whip, these projects seem to move a pace that’s lethargic by even glacial standards, simply sucking up taxpayer dollars at every level imaginable but never coming to fruition. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be anyone too interested in picking up the whip, aside from Saratoga County’s Jack Kelley, who’s been trying to crack it for years.