A Providence Township supervisor says Amtrak has reneged on plans to build a trail along the former Low Grade line when it constructs a new transmission line later this year.

"It's absolutely abysmal what they've done to us. It could be the setback that could eliminate the trail, given the economic conditions," C. William Shaffer said Wednesday.

Shaffer said officials from four Solanco townships meeting with Amtrak officials and their consultants Tuesday afternoon learned Amtrak was no longer planning to correct drainage problems and erect a gravel trail as had earlier been promised.

Moreover, Amtrak is planning to place new transmission line poles closer to the center of the right of way, not off to the side as townships had requested, further hindering plans for long-sought public recreation, Shaffer said.

"I was lied to. We're missing a tremendous opportunity to improve that trail," Shaffer said.

Providence, Bart, Sadsbury, Conestoga, Martic and Eden townships now own 23 miles of the abandoned Enola Low Grade rail line. Control and use of the line has been a contentious issue in Lancaster County for almost two decades.

Amtrak owns a right of way through the corridor for its transmission lines, which carry electricity from the Safe Harbor hydroelectric plant to trains that run from Philadelphia to Harrisburg and on Amtrak's New York to Washington, D.C., corridor.

Amtrak has received federal stimulus funds to replace the old double set of poles with single poles. Work to replace the poles is scheduled to begin in June and be complete by February 2011.

Some of the townships have held off from making major recreational improvements along the corridor until Amtrak does its construction.

Now, that work no longer includes trail improvements or even the recommended placement of the poles, Shaffer said.

The county and townships had requested that Amtrak place its new poles off to the side and use weathered steel so the poles would blend better into the surrounding landscape, said Mike Domin, a principal planner with the Lancaster County Planning Commission.

But Amtrak's plans displayed at a public meeting Tuesday night at Solanco High School show shiny galvanized steel poles 8 feet closer to the center of the right of way. Amtrak said placement closer to the center would minimize having to cut trees on the edge of the right of way.

Domin said the current configuration of poles still leaves room for a trail. "It's not going to be very pleasant," he said. "You could still make it happen and make it usable, but you will see a string of poles for miles."

Karina Romero, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said Wednesday that original plans called for the poles to be built in the middle of the right of way but that the railroad modified those plans at the request of the townships.

Of the change in plans for other recreational improvements, she said, "This project came to fruition as a result of stimulus funds. We are limited in what we can do with those funds.

"We're trying really hard to be great neighbors on this, but this is what we are able to do right now, and this is to just replace the transmission poles."

Steve Charles, a supervisor in Conestoga Township, said he hopes the townships can arrange a face-to-face meeting with Amtrak officials "to get this stuff down, one way or the other."

Those at the meeting Tuesday were Amtrak's consultants and engineers and not the railroad's decision makers.

Charles said he was disappointed Amtrak is planning to place its poles closer to the center of the right of way.

The meeting with public officials and a public meeting in the evening were held on Amtrak's plan to build six interpretive kiosks along the right of way.

Because the old rail line is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and federal money is being used, Amtrak is required to mitigate impacts on the corridor.

Its proposal is to build the kiosks with historical information about the Low Grade and have the townships assume maintenance.

But Providence and Sadsbury townships have not agreed to assume ownership of the kiosks.

acrable@lnpnews.com