Headwaters Charitable Trust announced Tuesday that an Agreement of Sale and Purchase has been executed with Knox and Kane Railroad Company for the acquisition of 73.8 miles of the Knox and Kane Railroad corridor.
The corridor begins in North Clarion Junction, Clarion County, continuing northward through Forest, Elk and McKean counties and ending at the skywalk in Kinzua State Park.
Also, Headwaters Charitable Trust will purchase two outparcels that include five acres of vacant land in North Clarion Junction and a small train station in Lucinda.
The Knox-Kane project was actually launched in 2010 with the development of a feasibility study funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The purpose of the study was to determine a roadmap for developing the Knox-Kane corridor based on extensive public input. Based on estimates from the feasibility study, this trail has the potential to generate 100,000?160,000 visitors to the region with an estimated economic impact of $4.3 million ? $7 million annually.
An additional benefit is the Knox and Kane Railroad corridor will be preserved. The full 73.8-mile section is approved for rail-banking by the Surface Transportation Board.
Rail-banking is a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and an organization to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail until a railroad might need the corridor again for rail service.
In 1983, concerned by the rapid loss of America’s rail network, the U.S. Congress amended the National Trails System Act to create the rail-banking program.
Rail-banking is a method by which lines proposed for abandonment can be preserved through interim conversion to trail use.
Some railroad rights-of-way contain easements that revert back to adjacent landowners when an abandonment is consummated. However, if a line is rail-banked, the corridor is treated as if it had not been abandoned.
As a result, the integrity of the corridor is maintained, and any reversions that could break it up into small pieces are prevented.
Headwaters Charitable Trust is a non-profit based in Curwensville. it has worked with many communities in the PA Wilds of northcentral Pennsylvania over the last 26 years on projects that promote economic development through partnerships and jobs leading to a green economy.