Cactus Jack wrote:Very positive news but as everyone does their happy dance don't loose sight of the fact there is likely to be an appeal and it is still not a given that NYSDOT will issue an operating permit for anything north of Big Moose. This is what happened in 1981 after ADRC filed bankruptcy and the corridor went into hibernation maintained only by beavers and mother nature until it was a washed out mess when operations resumed in 1992.
This is why maybe they should have taken the money and run to get the line to Tupper up to 40 mph. Hard for the trail people to take it once the state invests millions to rebuild.
As of now...
Worst Case = Ruling stands and the rails from Big Moose to Lake Placid rot away for the next 40 years. If the state gets defeated I do not see them being inclined to give out an operating contract or invest millions. And as much as everyone likes to hate Cuomo, I do not see a Republican governor dropping millions of taxpayer dollars into this line. I also do not see many...ANY... private operators willing to front THEIR OWN cash to upgrade this line. And no I do not support a trail which is REALLY wasting taxpayer dollars. If the trail is such a great investment for all the local business, lets put a trail tax on every local business in the counties served by the trail. This can fund the trail and it's upkeep.
As much as so many think this line only works with Lake Placid as a "destination" I do not buy it. Of course the ultimate compromise win in my opinion is a trail from LP to Saranac which seems to be the corridor the trail people are so excited about and a train to Saranac which is close enough to Lake Placid and the "destination".