Editing Railbanking (section)

==In the United States==
In the United States, railbanking was established in 1983 as an amendment to Section 8(d) of the [[National Trails System]] Act. It is a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and a trail sponsor (such as a trail organization or government agency) to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a [[rail trail]] until a railroad might need the corridor again for rail service. It takes place during the [[Abandoned railway#In the United States|abandonment]] process.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Railbanking: Trail-Building Toolbox |url=https://www.railstotrails.org/trail-building-toolbox/railbanking/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Rails to Trails Conservancy |language=en-us}}</ref>

In places with many environmental laws and other governmental regulations as the United States, it is very difficult to restore an [[Abandoned railway|abandoned line]], but it is easier with a railbanked line than one that has undergone a "total abandonment," as the federal government guarantees the railroad the full rights to reactivate it. A railbanked line can be reopened within a year's time while an abandoned corridor could take years to be reactivated, if possible at all. In railbanking, the government helps fund the line's rebuild. 

In the 25-year period from 1983 to 2008, {{convert|14,184|mi|km}} of railroad have been abandoned.{{r|Fowler}} Of that, {{convert|8056.5|mi|km}}, representing 56.8% of the total, were originally negotiated for railbanking agreements.<ref name="Fowler" /> And of that, only {{convert|5079|mi|km}} or 35.8% of the lines abandoned actually reached a railbanking agreement<ref name="Fowler" /> because 21% percent of the railbanking agreements failed and were ultimately abandoned. The remaining 43.2% of the lines, representing {{convert|6127.5|mi|km}}, were lines that railroads never considered trying to have railbanked, and were abandoned in their entirety. In total, {{convert|9105|mi|km}} were not railbanked (64.2%).<ref name="Fowler" /> Some railroads refuse to railbank lines, and instead sell the land in parcels to the surrounding landowners.<ref name="Fowler" />

Since railbanking began in 1983, less than twenty railbanked corridors have been approved for reactivation by the [[Surface Transportation Board]] (STB). Some of these reactivated corridors had only short sections reactivated, while others had the entire corridor reactivated.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGowan |first=Matthew J. |date=2015 |title=Locomotives v. Local Motives: The Coming Conflict, Statutory Void, and Legal Uncertainties Riding with Reactivated Rails-to-Trails |url=https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=student-scholarship |journal=Vermont Journal of Environmental Law |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=482 |doi=10.2307/vermjenvilaw.16.3.482 |issn=1936-4253}}</ref> Railbanked corridors are usually utilized as multi-use recreational trails for cyclists, walkers, joggers, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and horseback riding.<ref name="Fowler" /><ref name="STB">{{cite web |author=the Surface Transportation Board |url=http://www.americantrails.org/resources/railtrails/railbanking-hearing-STP-rail-trail.html |title=Surface Transportation Board hearing on rail banking abandoned railroad trail corridors |publisher=Americantrails.org |access-date=31 January 2011 |archive-date=26 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426062441/http://www.americantrails.org/resources/railtrails/railbanking-hearing-STP-rail-trail.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="SoR">{{cite web|url=http://atfiles.org/files/pdf/legacyrailbank.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://atfiles.org/files/pdf/legacyrailbank.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Story of Railbanking |website=Atfiles.org |access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americantrails.org/resources/railtrails/railbankwhat.html |title=Railbanking is the essential legal tool for preserving abandoned railroad rights of way for Trails and Greenways, planning, railtrail corridor study, recreation path system, l |publisher=Americantrails.org |date=17 March 2007 |access-date=31 January 2011 |archive-date=24 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224032552/http://www.americantrails.org/resources/railtrails/railbankwhat.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railstotrails.org/ourWork/advocacy/policyAndFunding/railbanking.html |title=Rails-to-Trails Conservancy:: What We Do:: Trail Advocacy:: Railbanking |publisher=Railstotrails.org |access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref>

The land over which railways pass may have many owners—private, rail operator, or governmental—and, depending on the terms under which it was originally acquired, the type of operating rights may also vary. Without railbanking, on closure, some parts of a railway's route might otherwise revert to the former owner. The owner could reuse them for any purpose, or modify the ground conditions, potentially prejudicing the line's future reuse if required. However, the landowner must agree to keep the infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels intact.

Approximately 85% of the railroad rights-of-way in the United States<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~dick156 |title=National Association of Reversionary Property Owners |website=Home.earthlink.net |access-date=2016-08-18 |archive-date=2016-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705013605/http://home.earthlink.net/~dick156/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> were acquired by easement from the then-abutting property owners. Normally, when the use for an easement is abandoned, the easement is extinguished and the land is not burdened by this adverse use. In 1983, Congress passed what is now known as the federal Rails-To-Trails law codified as 16 U.S.C. 1247(d). The federal law took the property rights of property owners throughout the United States for rail trails. Several property owners sued the government as the law took property without compensation. In 1990, the [[United States Supreme Court]] ruled that the property owners were entitled to compensation for the land taken for these rail trails.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/494/1/ |title=''Preseault v. ICC'' |publisher=Supreme.justia.com |access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref> In 1996, the plaintiff was awarded $1.5 million as compensation for the land taken for a trail through his property (see [[Preseault v. United States|''Preseault v. U.S.'', 100 F3d 1525, Fed. Cir. [1996]]]).

The state of [[Connecticut]] has taken a proactive approach to preserving railway rights-of-way. Since the 1970s, [[Connecticut Department of Transportation]] policy has been to acquire abandoned rail lines for preservation. This has contributed to the majority of railroad mileage in Connecticut being publicly owned, between the state and [[Amtrak]].<ref>{{cite web|title=2013 Connecticut Rail Transportation Ownership and Service|url=http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dpt/2013railcolor36x24_2D_09-05-2013.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dpt/2013railcolor36x24_2D_09-05-2013.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|website=ct.gov|publisher=Connecticut Department of Transportation|access-date=30 September 2014|ref=CTOwnership}}</ref> Today, this policy continues; the State will purchase any [[Right-of-way (property access)|right-of-way]] that shows future potential for transportation, when the property becomes available.<ref name=CDOT_Plan /> CDOT has subsequently transferred 60 miles of right-of-way to the [[Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection]] for use in rail trails, and CDEEP itself has independently obtained another 50 miles (22 of which are used for the [[Valley Railroad (Connecticut)|Valley Railroad]]). A provision of this transfer is that CDOT is allowed to retake ownership of a right-of-way when needed for transportation purposes.<ref name=CDOT_Plan>{{cite web|title=Connecticut State Rail Plan 2012-2016|url=http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dplansprojectsstudies/plans/state_rail_plan/State_Rail_Plan_Final_Draft_8-24-12.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dplansprojectsstudies/plans/state_rail_plan/State_Rail_Plan_Final_Draft_8-24-12.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|website=ct.gov|publisher=Connecticut Department of Transportation|access-date=30 September 2014|ref=CDOT_Plan}}</ref> Because of this, [[Connecticut]] is one of the only states where railbanked corridors have a reasonable chance of reactivation, should there be a need to, where elsewhere local opposition from trail users and property abutters would be able to directly influence a municipally-owned right-of-way.

Often, most of or all infrastructure is removed regardless of future use. In some cases laws have been passed to remove infrastructure. For example, in the Commonwealth of [[Pennsylvania]], a law was made to remove all unused railroad overpasses.<ref name="Fowler" /> Another example is a natural disaster. If a flood washes away a railbanked railroad bridge, that is beyond the owner's control. The local, state, and  federal governments could give some financial help for the railroad to rebuild any infrastructure that may have been damaged or destroyed during the time that it was unused.<ref name="Fowler" />

[[File:Malletsbaycauseway.JPG|thumb|This causeway once carried the [[Rutland Railroad]] over portions of [[Vermont]]'s largest lake, [[Lake Champlain]]]]
A single section of a route changed in this way could have serious consequences for the viability of a restoration of rail service, with the costs of repurchasing the land or right-of-way or of restoring the site to its former condition outweighing the economic benefit. Over the full length of a railway's route with many different owners, the reopening costs could be considerable. 

In 2017 the STB ruled that [[Neosho County, Kansas|Neosho County]], [[Kansas]], violated the Trails Act when it foreclosed on and sold three parcels of railbanked land where each spanned the full width of the right-of-way.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/MPD/62491/6DE4972C1FB0928C852580CF0068347E/45420.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/MPD/62491/6DE4972C1FB0928C852580CF0068347E/45420.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Sunflower Rails-Trails Conservancy, Inc. - Petition for Declaratory Order - Sale of Railbanked Right-of-Way|publisher=Surface Transportation Board Decision Document 45420 |date=23 February 2017|access-date=13 July 2020}}</ref> The county's sales of the parcels were preempted by federal law and were vacated to keep the rail line available for reactivation.<ref>{{cite report|url=https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/MPD/62491/50B7449D7F00EC7E852581BD004E64A1/46055.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/MPD/62491/50B7449D7F00EC7E852581BD004E64A1/46055.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Sunflower Rails-Trails Conservancy, Inc. - Petition for Declaratory Order - Sale of Railbanked Right-of-Way |publisher=Surface Transportation Board Decision Document 46055 |date=17 October 2017|access-date=13 July 2020}}</ref>