MTGA Trails Toolkit

An overview of the acquisition of railroad properties, reversionary rights, rights of entry, and recent court decisions as they relate to Michigan trails.

A brief summary document regarding railroad rights-of-way and applicable court decisions and Michigan state law.

Section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act (“the Trails Act”) was enacted by Congress in 1983 in response to this crisis of corridor loss. It provides an effective mechanism for preserving railroad rights-of-way for future rail service and for energy efficient alternative transportation use, without imposing additional burdens on rail carriers. The law allows railroads to transfer inactive railroad corridors to qualified trail managers for interim use as trails, until such time as these rights-of-way are needed for future rail service on the condition that trail managers assume all carrying costs (liability, maintenance, and taxes) of the rights of way. This process is known as “railbanking.”

Michigan laws which help define how the state handles railroad abandonment and their conversion to trails.

A comprehensive discussion of how railroad rights-of-way may be converted to recreational trails under the Interstate Commerce Commission’s new regulations implementing Section 8(d) of the Trails Act.

Although the general public thinks of a corridor as being “owned” by a railroad, in reality the average rail right-of-way is a hodgepodge of different legal entities that do not come unraveled until abandonment. In general, the railroad will own some portions of the corridor outright (in fee “simple”) while it will only have restricted use of other portions (“easements”).

Two documents answering common questions about rail-trails and railbanking.