Rails-to-Trails Conversions: A Review of Legal Issues

Abstract

The construction and development of our nation's system of rail lines was nothing short of a marvel. At the peak of the rail era in 1916, more than 270,000 miles of track crisscrossed the United States, carrying freight and passengers and fueling the economy and growth of a nation. At the turn of the century, the country's labyrinth of rail lines hauled food to market, moved the coal that heated cities, and took settlers into the Western frontier. The strength of our national rail system has also been critical to our national defense. Indeed, the trains that moved iron ore from the Mesabi Range to the steel mills of the Great Lakes helped win World War II.