United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-10-18 monographic deposited born digital 19 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-4 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4 P0b002ee18038c98d f:rc00004 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4 RCED-00-4 Public lands Railroad land grants Outdoor recreation Land management Railroad transportation operations Railroad industry Land use agreements FHwA Federal-Aid Highway Program STB Rail Banking Program Letter Report RCED

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on rail banking, which refers to the preservation of inactive rail lines as trails, focusing on: (1) the implementation process for rail banking, including whether it protects the various interests of landowners, communities, rail carriers, and those interested in converting the rights-of-ways to trails; (2) the extent to which rail-banked property has returned to use as rail lines and the potential for future reactivation of rights-of-way for rail service; and (3) whether rail banking facilitates the return of these rights-of-way to rail service.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) rail banking is a voluntary agreement between a rail carrier proposing to abandon a right-of-way and a party interested in converting it to a trail (trail sponsor); (2) during the abandonment process, a trail sponsor submits a request to the Surface Transportation Board to use the right-of-way as a trail; (3) in this request, the trail sponsor must agree that: (a) the use of the right-of-way is subject to the restoration of rail service; and (b) it will assume all managerial, financial, and legal responsibility for the right-of-way, including any liability arising out of its use as a trail; (4) if the Board determines that the right-of-way can be abandoned and if the rail carrier agrees to negotiate, the Board will issue trail use authority to the trail sponsor to allow the parties to negotiate a trail use agreement; (5) if a rail-banking agreement is reached between the parties, it may be implemented without any analysis or approval by the Board; (6) approval of the trail use agreement is not required from the landowners that may have underlying rights to the property, the local community, or any other entity; (7) because rail-banked properties are not considered abandoned under the law, the rights-of-way remain intact and adjoining property owners do not have use of the rights-of-way; (8) however, landowners, communities, trail users, or others with concerns about whether a trail sponsor is meeting the two requirements above can petition the Board to address these concerns; (9) of the rights-of-way that have been rail banked, three have been returned to rail service; (10) officials with four of the largest rail carriers and trail sponsors told GAO that the likelihood of additional rail-banked rights-of-way returning to rail service in the near future is low; (11) officials with two of these rail carriers told GAO they are only rail banking those rights-of-way for which they see little to no future potential for the reactivation of rail service; (12) rail banking offers carriers some advantages over abandoning unused rights-of-way; (13) while returning rail-banked rights-of-way to rail service may require some environmental studies, rail carrier officials stated that the carriers can avoid the cost of repurchasing or condemning land to reassemble or reconstruct a rail line; and (14) these officials noted that the rail line reconstruction costs are less than if the property was abandoned because rail banking does not permit a trail sponsor to take any action that would impede the restoration of rail service. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4.pdf GAO/RCED-00-4 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-4 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-4; Surface Transportation: Issues Related to Preserving; Public lands Railroad land grants Outdoor recreation Land management Railroad transportation operations Railroad industry Land use agreements FHwA Federal-Aid Highway Program STB Rail Banking Program Title 16 Section 1247(d) 16 U.S.C. 1247(d) Title 28 Section 1346(a)(2) Title 28 Section 1491(a) 28 U.S.C. 1346(a)(2) 28 U.S.C. 1491(a) Title 49 Section 10502 Title 49 Section 10901 49 U.S.C. 10502 49 U.S.C. 10901