[Talk-us] bike rail trail as built vs as proposed and imported

Greg Troxel gdt at ir.bbn.com
Tue Jul 21 00:12:48 BST 2009


Alex Mauer <hawke at hawkesnest.net> writes:

> Greg Troxel wrote:
>> Someone said railway=abandoned, but there are three separate things --
>> my opinion is partly from USGS topo maps:
>> 
>> * out of service (disused=yes above)
>>    [tracks present, no trains, but not abandoned]
>> 
>> * abandoned (this is a legal distinction in the US)
>> 
>> * old railroad grade (beyond abandoned, where there are no longer tracks)
>
> What's the difference between "out of service" and "abandoned"?  I
> assume the distinction is in how often the railway is used.  I know of
> some rail lines near me that are classified in the TIGER import as
> abandoned (not even out-of-service) , but which still have trains run on
> them occasionally (or even fairly often)

"Out of service" means the railroad has decided to stop running trains.
If there is even 1 train a month it's in service.  (In the US) to
abandon a line, the railroad has to apply to the ICC or something like
that for permission.  So abandonment is a serious legal step, and can
revert ownership of the ROW, etc.   The tracks can still be present.

If there are trains then the abandoned marking is almost certainly
incorrect.  But, there is probably some de-abandonment procedure.
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