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WEST PITTSTON — A decision on whether or not to sell Luzerne County-owned rail lines for scrap was tabled Tuesday for further review.
The Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority — with only three of its five members present — voted 3-0 to table a vote on accepting a $286,500 bid by a Tennessee company for approximately 8.1 miles of steel rail from unused train tracks.
Luzerne County Councilman Rick Williams attended the meeting and asked the board to hold off selling the rail lines because he feels they can be used again one day — hopefully for passenger rail service.
Authority board Chairwoman Judith Barr and members Carol Keup and Scott Linde voted to table the sale. Members Anne Pelak and John Pekarovsky were absent.
Keup asked: “What is the compelling reason to sell it?”
Authority Executive Director Andrew Reilly on Monday said the proposal was first pursued about a year ago after a piece of rail was removed by thieves, presumably for the scrap value, along an unused stretch of the authority’s 55-mile track in the county. The Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway Co., which manages the line, recommended the sale and identified rail stretches that are not in use and don’t appear to have any use in the near future, Reilly said.
Williams argued the authority could lose its right-of-way claim on the land if it reverts back to the original property owners because the rail line is removed. Authority Solicitor Garry Taroli said an independent title search company would have to be retained to assure there are no reversionary clauses in the property records. Taroli said it could be costly — in the tens of thousands of dollars — to perform the title searches.
According to authority descriptions and maps, the track proposed for removal includes:
• 10,000 feet in the Dupont area from Suscon Road to Tariff Road.
• 17,323 feet along Murray Street through the Forty Fort and Kingston areas.
• 6,000 feet from the Bridon America plant in Exeter to Sixth Street in Wyoming.
• 9,500 feet in Lackawanna County from Route 502 to Montage Mountain Road.
• 800 feet of rail piles on Pennsylvania Avenue and Wilkes-Barre Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre.
Williams supports the return of passenger rail service linking New York City to Scranton and then Wilkes-Barre, although government funding and approval remain large hurdles.
However, Williams said “behavior could change” over the next 10 or 15 years.
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