On 2/25/2012 8:24 AM, Greg Troxel wrote:
You probably already know this, but: in OSM railway=abandoned is what we
in the US would call "old railroad grade". railway=disused seems to
cover both what we would call "out of service" (a term within railroad
regulation, referring to tracks/ROW still owned by the railroad, on
which they have discontinued service, but not formally abandoned -- and
might resume) and "abandoned" (again a term with formal meaning,
generally requiring ICC permission, etc.).
It's actually more complicated. In the U.S. you have:
FRA excepted: poor condition, max speed 10 mph, no passenger trains.
This may look like disused to the layman.
out of service: disused, e.g. UP's Tennessee Pass Subdivision: no
regular service, but there may still be the occasional special train.
The STB (ex-ICC) calls this discontinuance.
interim trail use/rail banking: rails removed and right-of-way reused
for trail purposes. To get around reversionary clauses in the original
deeds, this is NOT legally considered to be abandoned, and is subject to
future reactivation by the railroad company. Obviously in OSM we call
this abandoned.
abandoned: full abandonment approved by the STB, and rails usually
removed. The right-of-way may have reverted to adjacent property owners,
or may still be owned by the railroad company (if there are no
reversionary clauses), or may have been sold for linear uses (including
trails). We call this abandoned unless rails are still in place.
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