VOORHEESVILLE, N.Y. — The village of Voorheesville has dropped the remainder of its lawsuit against Norfolk Southern after a court ruling in December that allowed the railroad to proceed with construction of a crew-change facility.
The Altamont Enterprise reports the attorney for the village informed Judge Paul Evangelista in a Dec. 30 letter that Voorheesville was voluntarily dismissing its case. The action was without prejudice, meaning the village retains the right to refile the case.
U.S. District Court Judge Brenda K. Sannes of the Northern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction allowing work to proceed on the facility on Dec. 3 [see “Judge’s ruling allows …,” Trains.com, Dec. 16, 2025]. The facility is needed to allow NS to use trackage rights on CSX to reach Ayer, Mass., in lieu of NS’s Patriot Corridor route through the Hoosac Tunnel, which cannot accommodate double-stack container traffic.
“It’s the railroad and we knew it was going to be a long shot,” Voorheesville Mayor Rich Straut told the Enterprise following the December ruling.
Voorheesville had blocked construction of the crew-change facility, citing concerns over blocked crossings and saying the facility violated local zoning ordinances. NS sued, saying Voorheesville’s actions were preempted by federal law; the community countersued. The remaining portions of its suit dealt with the sale of an acre of land to NS, and concerns over a settlement between the village, NS, and CSX regarding community impacts of rail traffic.
Voorheesville is about 14 miles west of Albany, N.Y.
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What are the challenges to increasing the clearance of the Hoosac Tunnel to accommodate double stacks? Is it feasible?
This being New England it seems (to me) likely that similar clearance restrictions are to be found up and down the line.