(erielack) THE TIER LIVES!!!! was: [LAL_RAIL] CORRY-MEADVILLE RAIL LINE TO BE ACQUIRED BY THE WESTERN NEW YORK & PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD (fwd)

[Will <alcoman_@_net.bluemoon.net>]

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- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 11:18:22 -0500
From: "Wilson, Lester" <lester.wilson_@_usa.xerox.com>
Subject: [LAL_RAIL] CORRY-MEADVILLE RAIL LINE TO BE ACQUIRED BY THE WESTERN NEW YORK & PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

Here's the news you guys have been waiting for...

WESTERN NEW YORK & PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, LLC 
Falconer, NY 
Contact: William D. Burt 
wburt_@_lalrr.com
(585) 346-2090 
NEWS RELEASE 
January 10, 2002 
For immediate release 
CORRY-MEADVILLE RAIL LINE TO BE ACQUIRED BY THE 
WESTERN NEW YORK & PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 
The Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (WNYP) is set to acquire the
Corry, Pa. - Meadville, Pa. rail line from the Northwest Pennsylvania Rail
Authority after an agreement was signed at the Authority's meeting in
Meadville yesterday. 
Authority chairman Stephen R. Hall and WNYP president William D. Burt signed
an agreement that calls for transfer of the line in exchange for $1 and
cancellation of $1.9 million in debt owed by the Authority. The debt is owed
to a company that WNYP acquired in 2001. The sale is expected to occur in
the near future, after necessary filings have been made with the federal
Surface Transportation Board. 
In his comments during the meeting, Hall noted that the agreement achieves
the Authority's objectives of preserving rail service to the corridor
between Corry and Meadvile and enhancing economic development. Burt praised
the Authority's "historic" role in saving the line from abandonment by
Conrail, and offered to work with Authority members to identify
opportunities to attract new industry requiring rail service. "Everything we
do from here forward stands on the shoulders of the Rail Authority and what
has been accomplished by the OCTL," Burt said. WNYP has reached a separate
agreement with Titusville-based Oil Creek & Titusville Lines, which has
operated the Corry-Meadville line since 1995. 
Burt emphasized that addition of the Corry-Meadville line to WNYP's existing
Corry-Hornell, New York line will make it possible to re-establish through
freight service between connections with Norfolk Southern at Meadville and
Hornell. "Former rail users along the line consistently tell us that their
use of rail service fell off sharply after Conrail withdrew the through
freight trains in 1991," Burt said, "Restoring reliable through freight
service is the key to bringing them back." 
WNYP is currently rehabilitating portions of its Corry-Hornell line in
Pennsylvania and New York, and is planning to further rehabilitate and
reopen the inactive segment between Olean and Hornell if pending and
proposed grant applications are funded. Since early December the line
between Corry and the New York/Pennsylvania state line has been
rehabilitated to a track condition that permits 40 MPH running. The railroad
has a $3.25 million capital budget grant in Pennsylvania, of which $500,000
has been used, and is working with the Southern Tier Extension Railroad
Authority and the Southern Tier West Regional Planning Board in New York to
secure additional funding assistance. In addition WNYP has invested close to
$4 million of its own capital since taking over the line last April. 
According to Burt, resumption of through freight service between Meadville
and Hornell will substantially improve the reliability of rail service to
local industry, cut transit times, and improve the railroad's efficiency.
WNYP projects that when the entire railroad is rehabilitated to a 40 MPH
track condition, it will be again be possible to move freight shipments
between Meadville and Hornell in eight hours or less. The line is the
shortest and most direct route between Norfolk Southern's Conway Yard near
Pittsburgh and New York's Southern Tier. Conway Yard classifies much of the
NS freight traffic handled in New York State and New England. 
Burt noted that competitive freight transportation is often a major factor
in decisions affecting the jobs of thousands of employees in other
industries. "The improvements in rail service that we are working on will
make the region we serve more attractive for economic development," Burt
said. 
WNYP is a subsidiary of Lakeville, N.Y.-based Livonia, Avon & Lakeville
Railroad, which operates 240 miles of railroad serving a diversified base of
industrial and agribusiness customers in western New York and northwestern
Pennsylvania. Addition of Corry-Meadville will bring the total to 282 miles.
Organized in 1964, LAL operated just ten miles of railroad as recently as
1995. It was named Railway Age Magazine "Short Line Railroad of the Year" in
1997 and won the year 2000 Silver Medal for Safety in its size class,
nationwide, given by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad
Association. 





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