To the Editor: [The Ulster County Legislature’s] Resolution 275 in 2014 called for a segmented approach to the Ulster & Delaware corridor with trail between Kingston and along the length of the Ashokan, and rail operations in the western segment in Phoenicia. For reasons not at all clear from a logistical and practical standpoint, the Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) chose Kingston as it preferred location for operations, even though they had a rail yard and a more scenic and established location in Phoenicia. They inexplicably fought tooth and nail for that Kingston location through an aggressive misinformation campaign for a “rail with trail” approach, even though that approach had been repeatedly studied and found to be technically, environmentally, and financially unfeasible. With a latest professional engineering study confirming that unfeasibility, and the inability to find a site for what even a key supporter deemed an “industrial junkyard” for maintenance and storage, the CMRR is confronting the consequences of the questionable decision to choose Kingston.

Latest economic impact studies show the stunning success of the Ashokan Rail Trail, (145,000+ uses, $17 million in tourism sales annually) significantly outweighing that of the train (60,000 users and $8 million in tourist impact). Combined with the fact that under CMRR monopolization the public resource of the trail sits empty 75 percent of the time and costs the few residents that do use it (only 7,000 last year) a fee of between $15 and $60 each, there is overwhelming evidence for the primacy of trail.

However, the county can still have both with the original Resolution 275 configuration. With a move back to Phoenicia, the CMRR can have its Polar Express event with 60 percent of its ridership and over 85 percent of its revenues. The county can have tourist train contribution, vibrant increased tourism from connecting Kingston to the Ashokan by trail, and a projected 250,000 annual uses by Ulster residents and visitors. A win-win-win all around.

There are options for the CMRR to continue to operate in a more suitable location and more efficient manner, and the public need not be persuaded by a “the County and trail advocates are trying to destroy the little railroad” perspective that is promulgated by railroad advocates.

William Sheldon, Ph.D.

SUNY Ulster Professor Emeritus, Economics and Management

Associate, Gabriel Management Consulting

Kingston