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Rail Bike tours grow in popularity across Pennsylvania

Rail Biking tours are reopening for the summer season and are available for riders in PA.

SEVEN VALLEYS, Pa. — If you’re looking for a fun and leisure adventure this summer, Seven Valleys Borough might have the perfect activity for families and friends.

American Rail Bike Adventures have opened tours for the summer 2023 season. Rides are available throughout the week and are available in Seven Valleys Borough and Stewartstown.

“Now that more rails aren’t being used, I think it’s going to get more popular,” said Robert Zain, Tour Manager for American Rail Bike Adventure.

The rail bikes are fitted to existing railroad tracks and can carry a group of four cyclists. Each tour can hold up to 20 riders. Rides can take up to two-hours to complete, depending on the location and rate of speed.

“It’s pretty much just like a bicycle at your home, accept there’s no steering and no passing, but it is all individually pedaled,” Zain said.

Biking the rails isn’t a new outdoor activity, however, more and more tours are opening around the commonwealth. Originating out of Las Vegas, Nevada, American Rail Bike Adventures opened its first tours in Pennsylvania less than five years ago.

“This is our second year, yep, we’ve been in Stewartstown for three years now and this is our second year here,” Zain said.

Zain also told FOX43 the bikes are just as fun and just as challenging as tradition biking, albeit less competitive. Riders go at their own pace.

“It’s not geared towards speed, it’s leisure, it comparable to like third gear on a ten-speed, it’s just a leisure ride that takes a couple hours to get down to the tunnel and back,” Zain explained.

Using existing rail tracks is also giving railroads new purpose. Zain shared how the company is currently researching other railroad tracks along bike trails in Pennsylvania for a possible third tour location.

“A lot of places don’t have anything going on with the rail at all anymore once they decommission the trains, they just don’t have any use for them at all,” Zain said.

Tours in Seven Valleys and Stewartstown will continue until November 2023.

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