Railroad that goes through Orleans set for $1.6 million in improvements

EDA changes from PILOT to lease-leaseback arrangement with Falls Road Railroad

File photos by Tom Rivers: A Genesee Valley Transportation train travels through Albion in this photo from March. Some Albion students were doing a cleanup day near the railroad tracks.

ALBION – The Falls Road Railroad, which runs from Lockport through Orleans County to Brockport, has been approved for a $1,652,330 state grant from Department of Transportation.

The funding will go towards new turnout lines and replacing some rail lines along the 41-mile railroad, Orleans Economic Development Agency officials said during the board meeting on Friday.

Photo by Tom Rivers: This photo from Sept. 9, 2015 shows the Falls Road Railroad in Albion. The railroad runs through Orleans County near Route 31, and stretches from Lockport to Brockport.

The Orleans EDA board approved ending PILOT agreements and instead having a lease-leaseback arrangement for the railroad in the county. The EDA is conveying the deed of the property to Falls Road, which is owned by the Genesee Valley Transportation company in Batavia.

The EDA helped Falls Road secure a previous grant of $480,000 from the Northern Border Regional Commission in 2019. NBRC has informed GVT and the Orleans EDA that the EDA doesn’t need title ownership for the railroad to receive grant funding. A leasehold agreement is sufficient, the Orleans EDA stated in a resolution adopted by the board on Friday.

The new grant from the DOT for $1,652,330 is an Industrial Access Improvements Grant and can include an agreement directly between the railroad owner and the DOT, the Orleans EDA said.

The EDA will instead have a lease-leaseback transaction to facilitate construction and operation of the railroad improvement project, the EDA board stated in the resolution.

The improvements to the railroad are expected to go through a bidding process.

The railroad is a key resource in the county for economic development, EDA officials said.

They praised GVT for recent upgrades along the railroad, which is seeing increased use. The EDA said additional siding could be added to serve Stockham Lumber in Holley and the former Bernzomatic plant in Medina.

“This is an important artery for our county,” said Craig Tuohey, an EDA board member.