LAKE PLACID — Local officials and railroad supporters met last week at the train station in Tupper Lake to discuss the benefits of extending the line from Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake, with the eventual goal of extending the line from Lake Placid to Utica.
Lake Placid officials are weighing in — and for the most part remaining skeptical — about the feasibility of reopening the line from Utica to Lake Placid. Town of North Elba Supervisor Roby Politi said although he sees some benefit in reopening it in terms of tourism, he isn’t sold on whether it makes sense in terms of daily travel.
“I can see it linking our Tri-Lakes region, but I don’t know how financially feasible it is to go beyond that,” he said.
Lake Placid Mayor Jamie Rogers agreed that any step taken to link the communities of the Tri-Lakes is a step in the right direction.
“I think my focus right now would be more on making sure we get to Tupper Lake,” he said. “Let’s focus on community to community first.”
Rogers added that Tupper Lake should be commended for its efforts to restore the railroad station and its committment to the project. He remained open-minded about the possibility of a link to Utica, citing rising gas prices that might discourage visitors from driving to Lake Placid.
“They built it for a reason back then,” he said. “If it worked back then, it might work again today.”
Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau President James McKenna disagreed with Politi and said the need for public transportation in the future, rather than a scenic tourist railroad, could make a line from Utica a viable option.
“Any railroad corridor could play a role in the future if we are going to use it to move visitors to the central Adirondacks; it would have to be more of a high-speed line.”
Currently the Adirondack Scenic Railroad utilizes the tracks between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake and between Utica and Old Forge. In November 2006, outgoing Gov. George Pataki promised $5 million to extend the line from Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake but so far that money has not been delivered by either of his successors. Politi remains skeptical whether the money will ever be awarded.
“I don’t think you can count on anything now unless the money is set aside and is in an account now awaiting withdrawal,” he said. “It’s a nice attraction that we have, but whether the state can continue to fund it, I don’t know.”
State Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, attended the meeting in Tupper Lake last Thursday. Her spokesman Dan Mac Entee said the senator’s focus of securing the funding that was promised for the Lake Placid-Saranac Lake line and the Utica-Lake Placid line is a long-term goal for which Little has not attempted to get state funding.
“It’s important that we make that connection (to Tupper Lake),” Mac Entee said. “There’s obviously a lot of interest in that locally and a lot of disappointment that the funding has not been secured as promised, and that is the focus of Sen. Little.”
