Maintaining Local Rail Freight Service

Résumé du livre

This revised handbook is aimed at providing information for shippers, rural communities, and other interested groups that are facing or will face an abandonment. Bringing together information from a variety of sources, this revised handbook provides an updated guide to assist shippers and communities in retaining or acquiring viable local rail service. Included is a brief summary of rail regulation as it applies to railroad abandonment and a detailed summary of the abandonment process as it exists today. Topics covered include both methods for preventing abandonments and alternatives to abandonment. Special attention is given to providing nonrailroad purchasers of rail lines the fundamental considerations they should address before purchase. Available assistance programs are outlined, including those from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other Federal and State agencies, as well as industry associations and Class I railroads. This handbook should serve not only as a current guide to the abandonment process but also as a reference to additional sources of information and assistance for shippers and communities facing future rail line abandonments.