Glosemeyer v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad

879 F.2d 316
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided July 5, 1989·No. No. 88-1863·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal from a final order en[318]*318tered in the District Court1 for the Eastern District of Missouri rejecting their constitutional challenge to § 8(d) of the National Trails System Act of 1968 (Trails Act), as amended, 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d) (hereinafter § 1247(d)), and granting summary judgment in favor of defendants. Glosemeyer v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas R.R., 685 F.Supp. 1108 (E.D.Mo.1988) (Glosemeyer). Plaintiffs are 144 individuals who own property adjacent to a railroad line in eastern Missouri that is no longer in use.2 Their properties, are subject to easements or rights-of-way for railroad use. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Co. (MKT), the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the director of the DNR, Frederick A. Brunner, were the original defendants. The United States and eleven environmental and recreational interest groups3 were later granted leave to intervene as defendants.

For reversal plaintiffs argue the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of defendants because §. 1247(d), (1) constitutes a taking of rights-of-way for trail use without just compensation in violation of the takings clause of the fifth amendment, (2) is not a valid exercise of power under the commerce clause, and (3) impairs private contractual rights in violation of the contracts clause and the due process clause of the fifth amendment. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the order of the district court.

STATUTORY BACKGROUND

The following is a summary for purposes of analysis only. For a comprehensive legislative history of the Trails Act and the 1983 amendments, see the discussions in Glosemeyer, 685 F.Supp. at 1113-17, and National Wildlife Federation v. ICC, 271

U.S.App.D.C. 1, 850 F.2d 694, 697-99 (1988) (NWF). Section 1247(d) is part of the Trails Act. Congress enacted the Trails Act in 1968 in order to establish a nationwide system of nature trails. As originally enacted, the Trails Act made no provision for the conversion of railroad rights-of-way to trail use. NWF, 850 F.2d at 697. By the early 1970s, however,

[concerned about the disintegration of our national rail system due, in part, to abandonment of rail corridors, [C]on-gress called for a study on establishing a “rail bank” consisting of selected abandoned railroad rights-of-way. Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 [(4-R Act)], § 809, Pub.L. No. 94-210, Title VIII, 90 Stat. 144 (codified as amended at 49 U.S.C. § 10906 (1980)). One significant impediment to the preservation of rail corridors has been that much railroad right-of-way is held by easement only and, under the laws of some states, once rail service is discontinued such easements automatically expire and the rights-of-way revert to adjacent property owners.
To address this problem, [Cjongress enacted 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d) as part of the 1983 Trails Act Amendments in order (1) to preserve for possible future railroad use rights-of-way that are not currently in service and (2) to allow interim use of the rail corridors as recreational trails.

Preseault v. ICC, 853 F.2d 145, 147 (2d Cir.1988) (Preseault), cert. granted, — U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 1929, 104 L.Ed.2d 401 (1989).

As explained in Glosemeyer, 685 F.Supp. at 1116-17 (citations omitted), § 1247(d)

grant[s] interested parties the opportunity to use, for recreational purposes, and [319]*319to preserve, for future rail service, railroad rights-of-way which have been approved for abandonment. Section 1247(d) provides that if interim trail use “is subject to restoration or reconstruction for railroad purposes” then such use “shall not be treated, for purposes of any law or rule of law, as an abandonment of the use of such rights-of-way for railroad purposes.” It also provides that if a qualified public or private entity is prepared to assume full responsibility for the management of the right-of-way and for any liability arising out of its transfer or use, the [Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)] “shall impose such terms and conditions as a requirement of any transfer or conveyance for interim use in a manner consistent with [the Trails Act], and shall not permit abandonment or discontinuance inconsistent or disruptive of such use.”
Under its final rules,[4] when the ICC finds that a railroad right-of-way is appropriate for abandonment under 49 U.S. C. § 10903 and when a qualified public or private entity offers to maintain the right-of-way for interim trail use, the ICC issues a [Certificate of Interim Trail Use (CITU) ]. The CITU permits the railroad to discontinue rail service, cancel tariffs and salvage track and other equipment. It further provides the railroad and the prospective interim trail user 180 days to negotiate an interim trail use agreement. If no agreement is reached, “then the CITU will convert into an effective certificate of abandonment, permitting the railroad to abandon the line immediately.” If, however, an agreement is reached, the ICC will permit interim trail use and hold in abeyance its authorization to abandon the right-of-way. Should the trail user thereafter seek to terminate its use of the right-of-way, it must file a “petition to reopen the abandonment proceeding” so that the ICC may “issue a certificate of abandonment to the railroad and to the trail user.”
... Accordingly, “[t]he key finding of [§ 1247(d) ] is that interim use of a railroad right-of-way for trail use, when the route itself remains intact for future railroad purposes, shall not constitute an abandonment of such rights-of-way for railroad purposes.”

See also NWF, 850 F.2d at 699-02 (interim trail use requires voluntary agreement between railroad and trail user); Washington State Department of Game v. ICC, 829 F.2d 877, 879-81 (9th Cir.1987) (same).

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At issue in the present case is approximately 200 miles of railroad right-of-way between Machens and Sedalia, Missouri; much of the railroad line follows the north bank of the Missouri River. MKT no longer provides rail service over the railroad line.

In September 1986 MKT filed an application with the ICC pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 10903 to abandon the contested section of right-of-way. Several parties protested or commented on the MKT application to abandon, including the DNR. In October 1986 the DNR invoked § 1247(d) and requested the ICC to issue a CITU to preserve the right-of-way for railbanking, citing the geological, biological, historical, archeological, and cultural values of the right-of-way. MKT was interested in working out an interim use agreement with the state and the other interest groups.

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Glosemeyer v. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, 879 F.2d 316 (8th Cir. 1989).

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