NORWICH – Chenango County has been chugging away at restoring the New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad from Chenango Forks to Sherburne since 2006 when a historic, 100-year flood damaged the tracks and halted service.

Since then, the Chenango County Industrial Development Agency has obtained more than one million dollars in state and federal grants to accomplish the Herculean task, including a $86,000 contribution from the Cooperstown-based railroad. Clean-up efforts have already begun through a disaster relief grant received from the New York State Department of Labor, and thus far the line has been brush cut and cleared from the northern county border through the south of Oxford.

The CCIDA owns title to the portion of the right-of-way that passes through the Chenango County and leases it back to the NYS&W. In turn, the railroad is exempt from paying real property taxes. The arrangement was made back in the 1980s as a way to preserve local rail service. The NYS&W Railroad currently comes up from New Jersey to Binghamton, goes through to Syracuse, over to Utica and makes runs from Utica to Sherburne and back.

The CCIDA and Chenango County Board of Supervisors have stressed the importance of rail transportation for local economic development purposes. Businesses such as Tecnofil, S.A. in Sherburne and Chobani, Inc. in Norwich, and Earl B. Clark business park in North Norwich could benefit from rail transportation, they say. Commerce Chenango identifies the natural gas industry, if permitted in the state, as a viable, long term customer for the delivery of sand, gravel and pipeline.

Now, the county finds itself fast approaching a deadline for receiving an additional $4.7 million federal grant to restore the tracks. The CCIDA identified an Economic Development Administration special disaster funding opportunity in late spring and applied for it. Last week, a representative from the EDA said “a more solid commitment” on a local match of $320,000 was needed to move forward with the application.