I've Been Tearin' Up the Railroad

I can't believe groups like the Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates exist. Once you tear out train tracks, they don't come back. As a frequent train rider, I am wholeheartedly against a proposal to turn the former New York Central Railroad Adirondack Branch into a rail trail. I would be thrilled to one day see a daily rail service from Lake Placid to New York City. To "amputate" the line would be in my eyes, destroy what could be possibly be a great way to get to and from the Adirondack. How did we become so anti-rail in this country? Then again, I think they should tear out the Harlem Valley Rail Trail and put the tracks back in.

But then again I believe that we should treat rail corridors like we do the Interstate highway system: state DOTs own the right of ways but railroads run tracks and run the trains themselves. We see rail corridors as private enterprises, a mentality that I hope changes soon. And it has. In California, a high speed rail corridor is being built from LA to San Francisco through Bakersfield and Fresno. States like Vermont and Illinois are spending stimulus money on improving trip times.

And don't give me the whole "New York is broke" excuse. If we could reform state government, we'd have plenty of money for this sort of thing.

How about this? A rail with trail. In places where there is enough right of way, a bike and walking trail could be put a safe distance from the tracks. Trains used to run from Ottawa to New York City on those tracks. I can understand why people want to tear out train tracks for bike trails, but railroad right-of-way is really an infrastructure asset, and we need more of that.