Kellar Branch

City shows their ignorance again

 

Bill Dennis has a copy of the City of Peoria’s press release on his website.  It says, in part:
The long awaited decision clears the way for service to Pioneer Park from the West, and railbanking of the portion between O’Brien Steel and Pioneer Parkway. This railbanking would enable the Park District to proceed with the planning recreational trail.
This press release reveals a profound ignorance of the definition of “railbanking” and of the recent STB ruling itself.
First of all, let’s talk about railbanking.  Railbanking was established under the 1983 revision of the National Trails System Act as an alternative to abandonment.  “Abandonment” means “the discontinuance of service on a rail line segment, with no intention of resuming that service.”  When a line is abandoned, it ceases to be a part of the national transportation system and ownership of the right-of-way reverts to the adjacent landholders.  If rail service were ever needed again, it would be difficult to re-acquire that land.  Railbanking preserves the right-of-way (treats the corridor as if it had not been abandoned), but allows the corridor to be used for a recreational trail or other public use.
The Surface Transportation Board ruled today, in part, that the Kellar Branch was abandoned in 1980 after the liquidation of the bankrupt Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railway Company — and never reactivated.  Even though trains have been running on the line, it has been on a landlord/tenant basis (the city was the landlord, P&PU and later Pioneer were tenants), not on a “common carrier” basis.  In short, since the Kellar Branch has already been abandoned, it cannot be railbanked.  Quoting directly from the STB’s decision today:
…rail banking requests under the Trails Act, and public use requests under 49 U.S.C. 10905 are not appropriate and will not be entertained.
Secondly, the press release from the city erroneously links the STB ruling with the city’s ability to provide rail service from the west, over the new UP rail spur.  The two are separate issues.  The city was always authorized to provide rail service from the west, regardless of the STB ruling. 
Now the question is, what is the next step for rail advocates?  Is there still hope to block this ridiculous trail?  I’m guessing we haven’t seen the end of the fight.

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