Great news! On Monday, October 5, Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NSR) officially filed for abandonment of the 48.5-mile rail corridor between Broadway and Front Royal with the Surface Transportation Board.
This is the exciting step forward we’ve been anticipating, and it kicks off the process that allows the corridor to be converted to trail use through railbanking.
And the best part? NSR’s filing mentions the rail-to-trail project we’ve all been working towards, and the support of the towns along the corridor.
What does this mean?
In a recent blog post, we went over what abandonment means and what to expect from this process– but here's a quick reminder:
Abandonment is a formal federal regulatory procedure that officially relieves a railroad company of its obligation to maintain the rail line and provide freight service. It could lead to fracturing of the corridor, which no one wants, or it could allow for a process to preserve the corridor for future rail.
After the railroad’s abandonment request is filed – but before it is finalized – an important alternative called railbanking saves the right-of-way for future freight use when it becomes viable again, while in the meantime allowing for interim public benefit as a trail.
(For more on abandonment and railbanking, visit this page.)
What’s in the filing?
The 209-page filing includes supportive comments from localities all along the trail.
NSR noted that none of the localities’ comments opposed the abandonment filing, and many specifically mentioned their support for preserving the corridor through railbanking.
Other highlights from the filing:
📌 “The Towns of Timberville, Woodstock, Strasburg, and Front Royal also indicated that their respective Town’s comprehensive plans mention the Line's [corridor's] utilization as a rail-to-trail with the Town of Edinburg and Warren County providing a copy of their respective 2021 Resolutions supporting the ‘Acquisition and Conversion of Out-of-Service Railroad Right-of-Way to a Trail for Alternative Transportation and Recreation.’”
📌 Due to the ownership structure of the land underlying the right of way, NSR "may have a corridor available for redeployment of alternative public use(s).”
So, what’s next?
Now that this process has begun, it should move quickly– many of the most important steps in this process must happen within just 50 days of the abandonment filing.
The next step to making this trail a reality is for the Commonwealth of Virginia to file a Notice of Interim Trail Use, the official document requesting railbanking and the redeployment of the corridor as a trail, likely within the next few weeks.
