By MIKE VIRTANEN
The railroad company that was negotiating to take over the 30-mile idled rail line from North Creek to the former Tahawus mine in the central Adirondacks says it’s no longer interested.
In a filing last month with the federal Surface Transportation Board, Denver-based OmniTRAX said it has decided to discontinue negotiations for the purchase of the Tahawus Line assets and had notified state officials and the current owner. Negotiations had begun last year.
“OmniTRAX continues to believe, however, that the Tahawus Line possesses sound commercial prospects for the right operator, but it has concluded that continued pursuit of this opportunity is not right for OmniTRAX at this time,” company attorney Robert Wimbish wrote in June.
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New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation now plans to pursue a federal declaration that the line is abandoned now that those negotiations have ended. The DEC said this week that it will propose an amended briefing schedule for that proceeding at the U.S. Surface Transportation Board in the coming days.
OmniTRAX also was among the four bidders for the 40-mile stretch of tracks from North Creek south to Saratoga Springs that’s owned by Warren County and the town of Corinth.
Matt Simpson, Horicon town supervisor who chairs the Warren County Public Works Committee, said a negotiating team has been appointed to meet with representatives of United Rail, “which wants to look at operating a tourist train.”
It was one of the four rail companies that responded to the municipalities’ request for proposals.
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Those talks with United Rail should begin soon, he said.
The two rail segments at issue connect in North Creek, where retail businesses had benefited from tourist trains on the municipally owned southern tracks and want to see them resume.
Some environmentalists want the northern segment of tracks, still owned by the railroad that once operated the tourist trains, turned into a recreation trail without trains.
The Saratoga and North Creek Railway, a subsidiary of Iowa Pacific, halted passenger service from Saratoga to North Creek more than a year ago. Its owner said it couldn’t sustain the tourist business and needed either freight service it had once anticipated from the Tahawus mine on its northern tracks, or the ability to keep storing idled tankers and freight cars there.
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State officials and environmentalists objected to that storage in the Adirondack forest preserve and the cars were removed in the spring of 2018.
The former titanium mine at Tahawus, shuttered for decades, produces rock tailings sold for construction projects and currently shipped by truck.
Meanwhile the DEC had requested holds on its bid to have the Tahawus line declared abandoned while OmniTRAX and Iowa Pacific negotiated.
OmniTRAX had told the Surface Transportation Board it was “optimistic” it would negotiate the purchase of the line and restore freight operations.
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In their filing to the federal board last September, New York officials initially said the 30-mile tracks in the Adirondacks had no active shippers and the owner had “no reasonable prospect for developing future freight service.” That permits a federal finding of abandonment under the test of “public convenience and necessity,” the DEC said.
OmniTRAX subsequently showed interest in buying the line, while Iowa Pacific removed its trains and nearly all equipment.
Iowa Pacific did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Simpson said he believes there are still rail companies interested in freight options on the Tahawus line, which connects with the rails in Warren County, but he hasn’t seen specific proposals.
The puzzling thing here is that even with a very favorable freight rate the math does not work out at current gravel prices. A viable business plan depends on forecasting a gravel shortage to the south. That could happen. But is stone so scarce that Tahawus would become a favored source? No. The stone market will react in numerous smaller steps.
Some environmentalists are hoping the Tahawus site can be fully erased, aided by removal of the “big pile” by rail. But after it’s gone in a few years, operations will target less visible, partially-revegetated piles. Being in favor of railroad operations means being in favor of digging up these piles for decades to come.
Newcomb jobs are worth pursuing. Successful businesses are worth pursuing. But the corridor has been unused since 1989 – zero jobs. That’s a shame, since there’s been a very good use for it all these years that would have brought a non-zero economic boost. A rail trail is an attraction.
It is not quite correct to say the corridor has been unused since 1989; aside from the railcar storage, there is also the rail bike operation.
Another issue affecting the economics of the line is the connection with Canadian Pacific. The charges CP imposes are a factor that could stand to be adjusted to facilitate freight operations.
While a rail trail would be an attraction, it would also be a financial drain. It would produce no direct income, would require year-round maintenance, and would give up all the economic potential of a working rail corridor.
Further, a rail trail will do nothing to meet the state’s plan to reduce carbon emissions. Removing the rails means no alternative to moving people or goods except by highway – and that’s simply not as energy efficient as steel wheels on steel rails.
Climate change means the need for what rails can do is going to be essential in the years ahead – and sooner than most people yet realize.
Good points Larry Roth. Dismantling the rail infrastructure to this mining site may not be forward thinking…and the idea of a tourist train is risky to a rail company. Freight is what makes rail profitable. Diversified, active avenues of transport, including but not limited to rail and barge, is what the future must hold.
Interesting that you cite rail biking as a use, which indeed has been far more popular than the tourist train. It’s a strong indication of the larger benefit of the corridor as a fully-fledged rail trail. This is the Adirondack Park, which is all about outdoor recreation.
NL tried to ship stone by rail. SNCR tried to ship stone by rail. OmniTRAX/Mitchell tried to ship stone by rail.
That’s the data for the past 30, 37, or more years depending on how you want to count it. The benefit of rail transportation has not exceeded its cost in this specific case. To justify reserving it for rail use, you have to describe how this is likely to change, remembering that the NYC area already gets stone by rail.
A rail trail makes a ton of sense. The Park has the potential for a much larger trail network that would allow even longer hikes than the N-P trail affords, which would offer yet another “must-do” destination for outdoor enthusiasts. A trail from NC to Tahawus would link the Siamese Ponds wilderness with the High Peaks Wilderness. Currently this requires driving around the upper Hudson valley on 28N.