To the Editorial Team: As the Ulster Legislature Housing and Transportation Committee nears a decision on the issue of rail-with-trail on the “undesignated section” of the Ulster & Delaware Corridor, Legislators and the public should understand the crucial difference between a double-track corridor and a single-track corridor — a distinction the Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) has blurred throughout its decade-long "Rail with Trail" campaign.

A double-track corridor contains an active rail line plus a second, abandoned rail line or an adjacent roadway. Every successful rail-with-trail project has been created by converting that unused corridor into a trail, making the project both technically and economically feasible.

The Ulster & Delaware corridor is fundamentally different. It is a single-track corridor. There is no abandoned track or roadway beside the rails. Creating what the CMRR calls "Rail With Trail" would actually require constructing an entirely new trail alongside the active railroad through terrain that was never suited for one. That means extensive grading, retaining walls, rock cuts, wetlands mitigation, stream crossings, and major expense.

Yet CMRR President Ernie Hunt continues to obfuscate this issue, most recently in a letter to the Housing and Transportation Committee who will be forming and endorsing a Resolution for the undesignated section. Mr. Hunt has never presented a single example where a trail has been carved alongside an existing rail line through a narrow single-track corridor at reasonable cost. He couldn't — because there are no such examples.

The latest engineering study by Barton & Loguidice reinforces what previous engineering studies have consistently found: constructing a new trail alongside the railroad through the single-track U&D corridor may be possible, but it is not feasible. The cost far outweighs any benefit.

Mr. Hunt and the CMRR certainly know the difference between double-track and single-track corridors. By repeatedly presenting one as evidence for the feasibility of the other, they continue to propagate a false impression of what is achievable. It is time for that deception to come to an end and Ulster County public policy to now be developed on evidence and professional expertise, not on misleading narrative and willful distortion.

William Sheldon, PhD

Professor Emeritus Economics and Management, SUNY Ulster

Kingston