This letter to the editor first appeared in the Daily Freeman on February 6, 2025.
No one is calling for the complete elimination of the Catskill Mountain Railroad.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) has inexplicably fought tooth and nail for a 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 the 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.
The latest economic impact studies show the stunning success of the Ashokan Rail Trail, (145,000-plus uses, $17 million in tourism sales annually) significantly outweighing that of the train (60,000 users and $8 million in tourist impact). And, under CMRR monopolization, the public resource of the trail sits empty 75% of the time and costs the few Ulster County residents that do use it (only 7,000 last year) a fee of between $15 and $60 for each use.
However, the county can still have both benefits with the original Resolution 275 configuration of trail east and rail west. With a move back to Phoenicia, the CMRR can have its Polar Express event with 60% of its ridership and over 85% of its revenues. The county can have the 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.
— William Sheldon, Kingston
