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Re: Sorry bike people - there are regulations
Author: J. K. Trowling
Date: 02-23-2017 - 04:57
While I can't argue that the Santa Cruz line is much more than preserving a rail corridor for future use, if the county is "moving forward with removal of the tracks" they are in deep doo-doo with two entities-- Union Pacific and more importantly, the Surface Transportation Board.
You see, there are these annoying regulations that prevent railroads from abandoning a line until a period of at least two years without rail traffic. So even if Iowa Pacific and the county agree operations are done, any petition for abandonment can't be submitted to the STB before December 2018 (assuming the Santa trains were the last movement). There is also the possibility of rail banking the line, which would allow for removal of the tracks in less than two years, but no such proceedings have been filed and removing even a foot of the line is in violation of Federal regulations at this point.
Secondly, you can't abandon what you don't own-- Union Pacific retains freight rights on the line, so the county would have to buy out UP, then begin abandonment proceedings. And that's presuming UP will want to sell and the county can come up with the funding to buy them out.
Tah me Wrote:
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> Sorry train people, there is no train business in
> Santa Cruz. The property sits as a vacant lot and
> the county is moving forward with removal of
> tracks and building a rail-trail (trail only).
You see, there are these annoying regulations that prevent railroads from abandoning a line until a period of at least two years without rail traffic. So even if Iowa Pacific and the county agree operations are done, any petition for abandonment can't be submitted to the STB before December 2018 (assuming the Santa trains were the last movement). There is also the possibility of rail banking the line, which would allow for removal of the tracks in less than two years, but no such proceedings have been filed and removing even a foot of the line is in violation of Federal regulations at this point.
Secondly, you can't abandon what you don't own-- Union Pacific retains freight rights on the line, so the county would have to buy out UP, then begin abandonment proceedings. And that's presuming UP will want to sell and the county can come up with the funding to buy them out.
Tah me Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry train people, there is no train business in
> Santa Cruz. The property sits as a vacant lot and
> the county is moving forward with removal of
> tracks and building a rail-trail (trail only).
