Railroad EIS

“In doing so it bisects the Frances C. Carter Memorial Reserve. This reserve was completely overlooked in the EIS analysis. The straightening also manages to cut through the Amos Green Farm and the Stoney Hill Cattle Co, which is a 4th Generation Family Farm. It also fills in wetlands at the Burlingame Wild Life Preserve and the Great Swamp Management Area in Kingston. Because the trains already travel at high speeds, it is difficult to see why this expenditure is needed. And the few seconds (if any gained) hardly justify the economic and environmental damage done by rerouting the tracks.”

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On Tuesday, January 10, after listening to testimony from many of the more than 500 citizens who had gathered to protest the proposal for construction of new rail lines through […]

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We are here to defend the natural and human resources that this proposal destroys. This preferred route includes the degradation of homes, farms, our watershed and conserved lands of the Nature Conservancy, local Land Trusts, RIDEM, Tribal and municipalities. We have a legal obligation to object to the sale, degradation or taking of these lands. There are legally binding conservation easements and management plans attached to conserved properties, with the intent of preservation in perpetuity. Perpetuity meaning forever, protected on the basis of common trust and not to be violated.

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This short film was created by Carla Ricci, owner of the Amos Greene Farm. The historic Amos Greene Farm is one of the many farms or parklands protected by conservation easements along the path of the proposed train route through Westerly, Charlestown and Richmond. Those easements protect the land from a change of use by future owners, developers, and state and local government. Will they be strong enough to stand up to the state of Rhode Island if the Federal Government is their partner? Where the state holds the easement, they have a legal obligation to enforce the easement – even enforce it against another state agency. Contracts are not always followed, especially when no one is watching, but we are watching and ready to fight!

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We begin at the border of Richmond, heading west southwest towards NYC on the proposed bypass route. As noted in the recent post about the impact of the bypass on the village of Kenyon, at the border of Charlestown and Richmond the tracks would be carried aloft on a nearly 1/2 mile bridge roughly 25 or 30 vertical feet above the Pawcatuck River, wetlands and floodplain, and more importantly, high enough above the existing tracks to allow trains below to pass, since the existing tracks would still be used were the bypass built.

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This video follows the path of a proposed new pair of train tracks through Charlestown. The existing tracks will remain for freight and slower trains. The new tracks are for […]

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The EIS, planning, and preliminary engineering etc., is prepared by Parsons Brinkerhoff/AECOM Joint Venture. It’s reported that $40 million has been spent so far on this planning process. How hard would it be to spend a few more pennies to write a letter stating that the plan includes “new rails and a new rail route in your community”. Or better yet, why not have included the towns in the scoping process from the very beginning?

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Since the mid 20th century, when many railroad companies went bankrupt and abandoned miles of rail beds, an effort has been underway to turn their defunct rights-of-way into parkland for bicyclers and walkers, popularly called “Rails to Trails.”

Under the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) proposal in Charlestown, the existing rail lines will not be converted to trails, they will remain to be used for rolling freight and slower trains. Charlestown would end up with four rails, the existing rail lines that run from Kenyon, through Shannock, Carolina, and Wood River Junction, and two new high speed rails running through over 2000 acres of parkland, including the 1,112 acre Francis Carter Preserve.

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They express a “Don’t worry, relax” attitude, which is hardly reassuring because an examination of the proposed bypass, especially in Richmond where it begins, clearly shows the route has been carefully sited to take into account the existing topography of the land, as well as the many buildings, other structures and roads in the way of the proposed bypass. So moving this section is probably not an option. The designers and engineers have chosen the best possible route, for them, but not for those who live close by.

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Westerly Sun — Narragansett Medicine Man John Brown said Monday that the tribe has not received any notifications from the Federal Railroad Administration about the Old Saybrook to Kenyon proposal that would impact tribal lands.

“It seems like a lot of entities and agencies were not included and I am concerned about any Finding of No Significant Impact or any attempt to publish a Record of Decision,” he said. “Those two determinations are central to any project moving forward.”

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This is an updated map and post from our December 27 post on this subject. We’ve added farms and more permanently protected open space parcels to this map. The map […]

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The FRA plans to bisect our town with a new high-speed track that runs from its western edge through homes in the bucolic Burdickville village, across a four-generation farm-to-table operation on top of Schumankanuc Hill, over Native-American tribal land through the center of the 1,100-acre Carter Preserve (owned by The Nature Conservancy), and splitting the Revolutionary-era Amos Green Farm, adjacent properties protected by conservation easements, and federally funded Historic Columbia Heights housing, to reconnect with the existing railroad near the eastern edge of town.

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What these comments tell us is that the draft EIS didn’t make the impacts to South County at all clear. Now that they are clearer, would these same reviewers still have little or nothing to say about the “Old Saybrook to Kenyon Bypass”? This lack of clarity and specificity in the Draft EIS is one more reason why there ought to be an extension of the comment period on the Final EIS from January 31 to April 1, 2017.

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On December 23, The Wood Pawcatuck Watershed Association released the following statement about the Federal Railroad Administration Plan to create new rail lines in Charlestown and other affected towns. “The […]

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The map above shows the approximate path of the proposed new rail lines through Charlestown Rhode Island in red. The existing rails are in black. The areas shaded in green […]

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The Westerly Town Council has written a letter requesting help from US Senators Reed and Whitehouse and US Representative Langevin in opposing the “Old Saybrook to Kenyon Bypass”. The image […]

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The following letter was submitted to NEC Future as a request for an extension to the comment period on the Tier 1 Final EIS and is shared with us here […]

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The above map shows the path of the proposed new rail lines through Charlestown Rhode Island in red. The existing rails are in black. The grey shaded areas are Rhode […]

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It’s the holiday season, but there is a January 31 deadline fast approaching to oppose the Kenyon to Old Saybrook bypass, and you want to know what you can do?

Write to NEC Future now and ask for an extension in the deadline!

The Federal Railway Administration’s Holiday gift to South County is one we may all want to return, but the Federal process requires that we write and tell NEC Future that.

Please email or write and then share the post.

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By KENDRA GRAVELLE – Chariho Times
“One of the options on the table was that there would be a bullet train from Boston to New York and that Providence would get bypassed,” said Chip Unruh, press secretary at the office of Senator Jack Reed. “So [Reed] was pleased to see that Providence wouldn’t get bypassed. This gives thousands of Rhode Islanders increased transportation options, and is extremely important for local businesses. It makes our state a more attractive place to do business.”

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Connecticut’s US Senator Richard Blumenthal held a town meeting at the Old Lyme Connecticut Town Hall at noon on Thursday, December 22 to discuss the Federal Railroad Administration’s plan for the “Old Saybrook to Kenyon” bypass.

He said this proposal must be countered and combated, it must not be allowed to be approved as a plan.

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Charlestown resident Kevin Tanner has set up a petition at MoveOn.org to let State and Federal officials know there is local opposition to the proposed railway path in Charlestown. The […]

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Below is a Topographic map showing the proposed rail lines, the Pawcatuck River, and two conservation areas owned by the Westerly Land Trust. Click on the map for a larger […]

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The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released their final EIS on Friday to straighten the tracks of the Northeast Corridor. This is nearing the end of the EIS process, but did […]

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One week before Christmas the Federal Railroad Administration has released their Environmental Impact Statement to straighten the tracks of the Northeast Corridor over the next several decades.

• Impacted communities have 30 days to respond
• Cost of this proposal at around $130 billion
• New rail lines would cut off 45 minutes of travel time between New York and Boston – but how much time in Charlestown is not known
• Rerouting the rails through the Grills Preserve in Westerly, and Burdickville Rd. Area in Charlestown, cutting through the Carter Preserve, then transecting the Amos Green Farm, Columbia Heights, and Kenyon, and many other homes and properties along the way

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