Rail trail plan wins another round in legal battle

KINGSTON, N.Y. » A state Supreme Court justice has dismissed yet another claim against Ulster County over its plan to create a recreational trail along portions of the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad corridor.

In a ruling from the bench Tuesday, Justice Julian Schreibman rejected a request by the U&D Railway Revitalization Corp. to issue an injunction barring the county from moving forward with its plans to construct trails along the Ashokan Reservoir and through a portion of Midtown Kingston.

Schreibman, though, left open the opportunity for the organization to bring a new action against the county in that he dismissed some of its claims “without prejudice.”

Larry Roth, a spokesman for the U&D Railway Revitalization Corp., called the decision “a mixed ruling” that allows the group to continue pursuing legal action.

Ulster County Executive Michael Hein called the ruling “a major win for the people of Ulster County” and said it “clears the way for continued development of a world-class trail at the Ashokan Reservoir.”

Schreibman’s ruling comes on the heels of a U.S. Surface Transportation Board decision that the rail corridor had been abandoned by the federal government in the 1970s. The U&D Railway Revitalization Corp. claimed the county failed to have the railroad line deemed abandoned and argued that, as a result, the county could not remove any tracks.

The county, in fact, began pulling up tracks in January of this year.

The group contends the county still is precluded from removing tracks along a segment of corridor stretching from Midtown Kingston to Kingston Plaza, saying that if that corridor no longer is being used for a railroad, then the easements revert to the property owners along the corridor.

County officials have said that the county owns much of the corridor outright and that in areas where there are questions about easements and reversionary rights, the line will continue to be used for railroad purposes.

After four years of debate and discussion over the future of the corridor through Ulster County, the county Legislature in August 2014 adopted a policy that provides for tourist-related rail opportunities on two sections of the right-of-way and for a recreational trail along the north rim of the New York City-owned reservoir.

The Catskill Mountain Railroad offers scenic and theme train rides on the tracks between Kingston and Hurley, and a company called Rail Explorers provides “rail bikes” for selfpropelled use on the tracks between Boiceville and Phoenicia, where the Catskill Mountain Railroad used to operate.