Carbon County officially closed Thursday on its $4.7 million sale of the 19.5-mile Panther Valley rail line to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad.

The two sides initially announced the deal last month.

Reading and Northern had been leasing the track under a deal that extended to 2038.

According to the terms of the deal, the railroad owed $2 million at the time of Thursday’s closing. They are scheduled to make eight annual payments of $125,000.

Reading and Northern Chief Executive Officer Andy Muller also pledged to make $1 million in track repairs and improvements as part of the agreement, as well as invest at least $700,000 in repairing the current driveway and pedestrian crossing at the county parking lot in Jim Thorpe with active warning and control devices for vehicles and pedestrians; as well as construct a new pedestrian crossing near the pedestrian bridge.

“The railroad has already done a tremendous amount of improvement to the line,” Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said upon signing the closing documents. “There is a lot more going on than people realize. Miles of track have already been replaced. This is a really good thing.”

Nothstein said the money the county is receiving will be set aside for economic development opportunities.

“We’re looking at some investment opportunities right now until we decide exactly how that funding will be used,” Nothstein said. “I don’t see anything on the horizon in the next six months to a year, but if something should come up, we’ll take a look at it.”

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said eliminating liability was one of the main factors in the sale of the rail line.

“Making the pedestrian and parking lot crossings safer is just one of the benefits for the county,” Ahner said. “Blacktopping the pedestrian crossing will make it much easier for the maintenance department to remove snow and it also eliminates pedestrians slipping on the mud.”

Carbon County purchased the former Nesquehoning Valley Branch Line 1009 through the newly formed Carbon County Railroad Commission on Sept. 30, 1981, at a cost of $991,500, with the help of federal grants.

Richard E. Forgay of Lansford, a charter member of the commission and former secretary of the Lansford Borough Council, was instrumental in the purchase by securing the federal grant through Lansford.

Through terms of an agreement negotiated decades ago as part of the purchase of the line, Lansford will receive 25% of the sale.

As part of the acquisition, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern has agreed to keep in place the lease with the current freight operator of the line, the C&S Railroad. C&S will continue to provide freight service to the three local customers on the railroad. Reading Blue Mountain and Northern will continue to use the line for overhead freight traffic and its very popular passenger excursion trains.

“I am very grateful for the cooperation of all of the county commissioners,” Muller said. “We have been fortunate to have strong support from all the elected officials in Carbon County and many of them helped us in our efforts to connect our Reading and Lehigh divisions. My dream has long been to bring high quality freight and passenger rail service to the region, and nothing epitomizes that more than the creation of a high-speed rail line between Reading and Scranton. We are now able to help businesses expand, communities attract new business, and tourism grow even faster in Jim Thorpe and the region. This is a great day for the Reading & Northern, our nearly 300 employees and the entire region.”