Deal ensures cooperation for railways Print Editorial

Editorial / Newport Daily News
Nov. 23, 2004

Thanks to the efforts of a cadre of local and state officials, the Old Colony & Newport Railway and the Newport Dinner Train will continue to co-exist on the Newport Secondary Line.

That is good news for both groups, as well as train aficionados and those hoping passenger rail will make a comeback in this area.

The state Department of Transportation approved a tentative operating agreement Friday that allowed Old Colony to continue its morning and afternoon trips on Sunday. Volunteer members of the railway had feared they would have to shut down on Friday.

That was the deadline for Old Colony - a nonprofit, volunteer organization that has been running train trips on the tracks on the west side of Aquidneck Island for 25 years - to sign an agreement with the Newport Dinner Train, per order of the DOT.

That proposed agreement, which would have placed Old Colony under the auspices of the for-profit dinner train and allowed it to run train trips only in the winter, instead of year-round, was considered too restrictive by Old Colony members, who said it would effectively shut them down.

The new agreement, which specifically allows Old Colony's Sunday trips from Jan. 16-Nov, 20, 2005, and gives the Newport Dinner Train operational priority on the track, appears to avoid such a shut-down or a costly court battle.

The Newport Dinner Train will begin running its Santa Express on Saturdays and Sundays this weekend and continue through the weekend before Christmas. Old Colony does not want to interfere with that, said Donald G. Elbert, Old Colony's executive director.

In addition, Old Colony agrees to provide 300 hours annually of documented volunteer time maintaining the track. Final details will be worked out between both groups and DOT.

"We believe we have the basis for an agreement in place now," said Newport City Manager James C. Smith, who was instrumental in getting the draft agreement to DOT Director James Capaldi for review on Friday.

DOT spokeswoman Dana Nolfe agreed. "If it is amenable to all parties, we hope for a settlement," she said. "We have been working on this for a few years. It's a public-safety issue."

We credit Smith, Old Colony volunteers who worked with him to draft the agreement, state Reps. Bruce Long, R-Middletown, and Paul W. Crowley, D-Newport, and Sen. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, and DOT officials for working together to move toward resolving this important issue.

And we urge the DOT to consider establishing a board or authority to better govern use and maintenance of the Newport Secondary Line, to avoid such conflicts in the future. Such a board could be composed of representatives from the two rail groups, the DOT and the municipalities through which the trains run, which would help to improve communication and coordinate planning among all entities involved.

Newport Daily News - Old Colony & Newport Railway - Articles published 2004
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