Preservation of Rail Service

Under the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by the ICC Termination Act of 1995, Pub. L. No. 104-88, 109 Stat. 803 (1995), and Section 8(d) of the National Trails System Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d) (Trails Act), persons seeking to preserve rail service may file pleadings before the Board to acquire or subsidize a rail line for continued service, or to impose a trail use or public use condition. More specifically, when a line is proposed for abandonment, affected shippers, communities, or other interested persons may seek to preserve rail service by filing with the Board: an offer of financial assistance to subsidize or purchase a rail line for which a railroad is seeking abandonment (49 U.S.C. § 10904), including a request for the Board to set terms and conditions of the financial assistance; a request for a public use condition (§ 10905); or a trail-use request under the Trails Act. Similarly, when a line is placed on a system diagram map identifying it as an anticipated or potential candidate for abandonment, affected shippers, communities, or other interested persons may seek to preserve rail service by filing with the Board a feeder line application to purchase the identified rail line (§ 10907). (Railroad owning the rail line subject to abandonment must, in some circumstances, provide information to the applicant or offeror.) The collection also encompasses certain notifications to the agency under the Trails Act and related regulations.

The latest form for Preservation of Rail Service expires 2023-02-28 and can be found here.