<PAGE>
                                  Exhibit 31.1
                       New York Regional Rail Corporation
           Certification Pursuant to Rule 13a-14 (a)/15d-14(e) of the
             Securities Exchange Act of 1934, As Adopted Pursuant to
                      Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act


I, Donald B. Hutton, certify that:

1)   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of New York Regional
     Rail Corporation;

2)   Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of
     a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
     statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
     were made, not misleading with respect to the period cover by this report;

3)   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
     information included in this report, fairly present in all material
     respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flow of
     the small business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in this
     report;

4)   The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I are
     responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
     procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e)) for small business
     issuer and have:

     a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
          disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
          supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the small
          business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made
          known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
          period in which this report is being prepared;

     b)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer's disclosure
          controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusion
          about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
          of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
          evaluation; and

     c)   Disclosed in this report any change in the small business issuer's
          internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
          small business issuer's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
          affected, of is reasonably likely to materially affect, the small
          business issuer's internal control over financial reporting; and

5)   The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I have
     disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of

<PAGE>

     internal control over financial reporting, to the small business issuer's
     auditors and the audit committee of the small business issuer's board
     of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

     a)   All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
          operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
          reasonably like to adversely affect the small business issuer's
          ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
          information; and

     b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
          employees who have a significant role in the small business issuer's
          internal control over financial reporting.



/s/ Donald B. Hutton
Donald B. Hutton, Chief Executive Officer
Principal Executive Officer