Is it just simply that no train run on that track or route any longer or it needs to have an official statement from a company, state, or federal government notifying public about the track’s abandonment??
Karn[:)]
Isn’t there another official proceeding for discontinuance of service that doesn’t involve abandonment?
Wayne
What’s the official status of those portions of the old Rock ‘Golden West’ line (don’t know the right name for it) that aren’t in current service? And the line over Tennessee Pass?
A recent Trains article indicated that the latter was being kept by UP as an anticompetitive measure against some future Anschutz trying to compete – seems a bit dog-in-the-manger, but unquestionable business common sense… Is there a distinct term for ‘withdrawn indefinitely by choice’ ?
The line is embargoed.
Now that the D&SL / DNW&P/DRG-W Moffat tunnel route is consistantly close to capacity, look for a revival of the Tennessee Pass line.
Mark,
Does the term “embragoed” apply when an actively used track is so poorly maintained (even without storm damage) that the STB deems it unsafe for operations and forces a shutdown, at least until repairs are made? Or is that something else?
Mike
…If embargo means a possibility of returning to service could that mean a glimmer of hope for Saluda…
Mark,
Do you know the staus of SPs old North Coast Route from Willits to Eureka. I think it has been sold, but I don’t think it has been abondoned. I know it was a pretty penny for SP to keep the line open.
This web site has some information:
I have seen that sight before. There is another one that is almost current that is the home sight for the North Coast Rail Authority. Most of that sight talks with regards to raising capital, nothing regarding the feasibility of restoring the line.
Obligation to serve. There was a case in the 1970 where Larry Provo almost got thrown in jail because the CNW had embargoed a line with bad track and refused to fix it since it was losing money. The judge upheld the CNW so LP did not go to jail.
My question is that if a railroad abandons a section of track, what happens to the property rights? I’m assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that a railroad has property rights to certain real estate in a township, county, whatever, that it doesn’t change when abandonment take place. Even if the railroad isn’t using a certain section or track, it still has to pay property & other taxes on it. I would guess that the final stage of abandonment is when either the state takes the property for a trail or other uses, or when the railroad sells it to someone else (I would expect adjacent owners).
I’m not exactly positve as far as property rights and laws and all of that stuff goes, but I know that a large section of track was abandoned by CSX in Rutherford County and all of the track was taken up, but the roadbed was left in place and no trespassing signs for 4-wheelers were put up, so I would assume it’s all still CSX property even though there aren’t even tracks there.
North Coast Railroad Authority - NCRA
http://www.northcoastrailroad.org/index.html
SMART Administration | SMART Home Page
http://www.sonomamarintrain.org/
1st one is the controlling agency of the ROW. They plan on opening the southern end 1st.
2nd one is a acency that is tring to start commuter rail in the southern end.
Just to muddy up the picture some more, sometimes the property is transferred to an agency. In many visits to various county recorder’s offices, I found a lot of the PennCentral’s abandoned lines in Indiana went to U.S. Railroad Vestment Corp., which I believe is a holding company for the Railroad Retirement Board. They must sell it off as best as they can and use the proceeds to fund retirement payments, if they didn’t lose their appeal of their property rights to some liberal judge who views railroad rights-of-way as only temporary.
Railroads acquire right of way by two (or more) means: purchase or easement. The purchase is the simplist to understand. The railroad buys the strip of land outright and they continue to own it even after they formerally abandon operations. Lots of times the railroad will offer the unneeded right of way to the adjacent property owners to purchase. About the only thing that could take the ROW from the railroad is a tax sale. Utilities and governments do have the right of eminant domain that could also take the ROW after payment of just compensation.
the easement is a little more complex (I an not a lawyer). The railroad, for a fee, receives an easement across a tract of land to use for their right of way. The easement can be for a specific number of years or habendum (continue as long as the railroad is using it). Pipelines and power lines usally acquire their right of ways in this manner. When the right of way is abandoned it will revert back to the land owner who originally gave the easement. This can be complicated by the land owner selling the farm and if he did or did not transfer the reversionary interests with the property. (Lawyers have a field day here.)
Under certain conditions the railroad has the option to put the abandoned ROW into a land bank wherein it is held for potential future use for a transit corridor. In the meantime it can be used for the rails to trails program. I am not aware of any attempts to go trails to rails. This reverse move could cause a significant political uproar.