(a)If the Secretary finds that the continued operation of any State-owned railroad property is not economically feasible under present conditions, the Secretary may place the line in railbanked status after giving advance notice of the planned railbanking to the House and Senate Committees on Transportation when the General Assembly is in session, and when the General Assembly is not in session, to the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee. The Agency, on behalf of the State, shall continue to hold the right-of-way of a railbanked line for reactivation of railroad service or for other public purposes not inconsistent with future reactivation of railroad service. The railbanking shall not be treated, for purposes of any law or rule of law, as an abandonment of the use of the rights-of-w
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(a) If the Secretary finds that the continued operation of any State-owned railroad property is not economically feasible under present conditions, the Secretary may place the line in railbanked status after giving advance notice of the planned railbanking to the House and Senate Committees on Transportation when the General Assembly is in session, and when the General Assembly is not in session, to the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee. The Agency, on behalf of the State, shall continue to hold the right-of-way of a railbanked line for reactivation of railroad service or for other public purposes not inconsistent with future reactivation of railroad service. The railbanking shall not be treated, for purposes of any law or rule of law, as an abandonment of the use of the rights-of-way for railroad purposes.
(b) The Secretary may enter into agreements with units of federal, state, and local governments, as well as with responsible private persons, for interim use of the right-of-way of a railbanked line, provided that the interim use is not inconsistent with future reactivation of railroad service.
(c)(1) The Secretary may, after consulting with municipalities, adopt rules consistent with the provisions of section 3408a of this chapter governing the interim trail use of State-owned railroad rights-of-way that have been placed in railbanked status.
(2) Signs indicating the rules shall be conspicuously posted in or near all areas affected.
(3) Any person who violates rules adopted pursuant to this subsection shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $300.00. (Added 1987, No. 211 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 26, 1988; amended 1993, No. 211 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. June 17, 1994; 2009, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 37; 2025, No. 43, § 8, eff. July 1, 2025.)