The Railbanking Process

Adapted from our partners at
Rails to Trails Conservancy

  • Federal, state, and local agency recipients of the August 19th notice have three weeks to submit comments to Norfolk Southern about whether the proposal is consistent with local land-use plans, as well as environmental and historic resources along the corridor. These comments may be included in Norfolk Southern’s formal abandonment filing.

  • Norfolk Southern will issue a notification to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit.

  • Norfolk Southern will submit a petition for abandonment exemption to the Surface Transportation Board, an independent federal agency primarily responsible for regulating freight rail and the economics of surface transportation. 

    The STB will issue a docket number to the case, allowing the public to follow the process using the STB website. 

    The Notice of Abandonment will appear in the Federal Register within 20 days of the filing.

    Note: This abandonment falls under what is known as a class exemption. This designation applies when no local traffic has moved over the line for at least 2 years. A class exemption allows the rail company and the STB to use a simpler regulatory process than in the abandonment of a currently or recently active line. 

  • 30 days after filing (or 10 days after filing appears in Federal Register), the organization or government agency interested in developing a trail along the disused corridor can file a request for a Notice of Interim Trail Use (NITU) with the STB and Norfolk Southern's legal team. In this request, the organization/agency will include documents indicating their willingness to take on the financial responsibility for the trail and requesting the STB establish a Public Use Condition (PUC). This filing also indicates the organization/agency’s interest in negotiating for railbanking.

  • 40 days after filing (or within 10 days of Norfolk Southern’s receipt of NITU and PUC), we can expect a decision from Norfolk Southern about railbanking.

    Norfolk Southern will have 10 days to consider whether to participate in a discussion on railbanking with the organization/agency and to notify the STB. Railbanking, which is necessary for interim trail use, is voluntary; the STB will only issue a trail use/railbanking condition with the consent of Norfolk Southern.