{
  "id": "RL32140",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32140",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 314639,
      "date": "2006-05-03",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:03:29.230029",
      "title": "Federal Railroad Rights of Way",
      "summary": "During the drive to settle the western portion of the United States, Congress sought to encourage\nthe\nexpansion of railroads, at first through generous grants of rights of way and lands to the great\ntranscontinental railroads between 1862 and 1871, and later through the enactment of a general right\nof way statute. The 1875 General Railroad Right of Way Act permitted railroads to obtain a 200-foot\nfederal right of way by running tracks across public lands. Some railroads also obtained rights of way\nby private purchase or through the exercise of state or federal powers of eminent domain. Therefore,\nnot all railroad rights of way are on federal lands, and the property interest of a railroad in a right of\nway may vary. The courts have characterized the interest held by a railroad pursuant to a federally\ngranted right of way variously: as a \"limited fee\" in the case of a land grant right of way, or as an\neasement in the case of a right of way under the 1875 Act. \n As railroads closed rail lines, questions arose as to the disposition of the lands within the former\nrights of way. Many individual instances were resolved in separate legislation. In 1922, Congress\nenacted a general law to provide that federal railroad rights of way on federal lands become the\nproperty of the adjacent landowner or municipality through which the right of way passed. This law\nis unclear in several respects -- for example, as to what procedures are sufficient to constitute an\nabandonment of a right of way, and on what authority Congress could provide for the establishment\nof highways within the right of way  after  abandonment of the rail line. In 1988, in what\nis popularly\nknown as the Rails to Trails Act, Congress opted to bank rail corridors, keeping them available for\npossible future use as railroads and making them available for interim use as recreational trails. \n Some cases have held that Rails to Trails results in takings of private property when non-federal\neasements were involved. In the context of federal rights of way, recent cases have held that the\nfederal government did not retain any interest in federal railroad rights of way when the underlying\nlands were conveyed into private ownership, and therefore if an abandoned rail corridor is held for\ninterim trail use, compensation is owed the adjacent landowners. However, Congress has legislated\nnumerous times over the years regarding federal railroad rights of way, as though Congress believed\nit had continuing authority over their ultimate disposition. Issues may continue to arise surrounding\nthe disposition of federal railroad rights of way, possibly involving, for example, the authority of\nCongress over the rights of way, the nature of the interest held by the railroad, the validity of\nattempts by the railroad to convey all or part of that interest, and disputes between adjacent\nlandowners over perceived entitlements to lands within a particular right of way.\n This report discusses the history of federal railroad rights of way and some of the cases\naddressing them. It will be updated from time to time as circumstances warrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
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}