Rail trail


A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed; in addition, rails with trails share the rail corridor with active railways, light rail or with disused track. As shared-use paths, rail trails are primarily for non-motorised traffic including pedestrians, bicycles, horseback riders, skaters and cross-country skiers, although snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles may be allowed. The characteristics of abandoned railways lend themselves to rail trails and account for their popularity; these include gentle grades, well-engineered rights of way and structures, and passage through historical areas. Many rail trails are long-distance trails, while some shorter rail trails are known as greenways or linear parks.

Rail trails around the world

Americas

Bermuda

The Bermuda Railway ceased to operate as such when the only carrier to exist in Bermuda folded in 1948. Some of the former rights of way were converted for automobile traffic; in 1984, 18 miles were converted to a rail trail, reserved for pedestrian use and bicycles on paved portions. The rail bed spans the length of the island and connected Hamilton to St. George's and several villages, though several bridges are derelict, causing the trail to be fragmented.

Canada

The Kettle Valley Rail Trail in British Columbia uses a rail corridor that was originally built for the now-abandoned Kettle Valley Railway. The trail was developed during the 1990s after the Canadian Pacific Railway abandoned the train service.
The longest rail trail in Canada is the Newfoundland T'Railway that covers a distance of. Protected as a linear park under the provincial park system, the T'Railway consists of the railbed of the historic Newfoundland Railway as transferred from its most recent owner, Canadian National Railway, to the provincial government after rail service was abandoned on the island of Newfoundland in 1988. The rail corridor stretches from Channel-Port aux Basques in the west to St. John's in the east with branches to Stephenville, Lewisporte, Bonavista, Placentia and Carbonear.
Following the abandonment of the Prince Edward Island Railway in 1989, the government of Prince Edward Island purchased the right-of-way to the entire railway system. The Confederation Trail was developed as a tip-to-tip walking/cycling gravel rail trail which doubles as a monitored and groomed snowmobile trail during the winter months, operated by the PEI Snowmobile Association.
In Quebec, Le P'tit Train du Nord runs from Saint-Jérôme to Mont-Laurier.
In Toronto, there are two rail trails: the Beltline Trail and the West Toronto Railpath.
In central Ontario, the former Victoria Railway line, which runs from the town of Lindsay, Ontario, north to the village of Haliburton, in Haliburton County, serves as a public recreation trail. It can be used for cross-country skiing, walking and snowmobiling in the winter months, with walking, cycling and horse riding from spring to autumn. The majority of the rail trail passes through sparsely populated areas of the Canadian Shield, with historic trestle bridges crossing several rivers.
The old Sarnia Bridge in St. Marys, Ontario, was re-purposed as part of the Grand Trunk Trail. The former Grand Trunk Railway viaduct was purchased from Canadian National Railway in 1995. The Grand Trunk Trail was opened in 1998, with over of paved and accessible trail. In 2012, the repurposing of the Sarnia Bridge was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame.
A railroad between Gateway Road and Raleigh Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was turned into a asphalt trail in 2007. It is called the Northeast Pioneers Greenway; there are plans for expansion into East St. Paul and eventually to Birds Hill Park.
In Nova Scotia, almost every section of the Trans Canada Trail and other walking trails are abandoned railways. A small railway line from Musquodoboit Harbour to Dartmouth are nearly fully used by community members and tourists. Another extremely large section is used from Halifax Grand Pre, via New Germany and Yarmouth.
A considerable part of the Trans Canada Trail are repurposed former railway lines donated to provincial governments by CP and CN rail rebuilt as walking trails. The main section runs along the southern areas of Canada connecting most of Canada's major cities and most populous areas. There is also a long northern arm which runs through Alberta to Edmonton and then up through northern British Columbia to Yukon. The trail is multi-use and, depending on the section, may allow hikers, cyclists, horseback riders, cross country skiers and snowmobilers.

United States

In North America, the decades-long consolidation of the rail industry led to the closure of a number of uneconomical branch lines and redundant main lines. Some were maintained as short line railways, but many others were abandoned. The first abandoned rail corridor in the United States converted into a recreational trail was the Elroy-Sparta State Trail in Wisconsin, which opened in 1967; the Illinois Prairie Path opened in the following year. The conversion of rails to trails hastened with the federal government passing legislation promoting the use of railbanking for abandoned railroad corridors in 1983 which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990. This process preserves rail corridors for possible future rail use, with interim use as a trail. By the 1970s, even main lines were being sold or abandoned; this was especially true when regional rail lines merged and streamlined their operations. As both the supply of potential trails increased and awareness of the possibilities rose, state governments, municipalities, conservation authorities and private organisations bought the railway corridors to create, expand or link green spaces.
The longest developed rail trail is currently the Katy Trail in Missouri. When complete, the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska will become the second-longest, extending for, the longest being the Ohio to Erie Trail in Ohio at.
The Beltline, in Atlanta, Georgia, is currently under construction. In 2030, its anticipated year of completion, it will be one of the longest continuous trails. The Atlanta Beltline is a sustainable redevelopment project that will provide a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting many neighborhoods directly to each other.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nationwide nonprofit group that advocates for rail trails and has many documents and advice on building a rail trail. Per their records, the U.S. currently has 22,107 miles of rail trail complete., Michigan has the most total mileage of any state.

Europe

Belgium

The RAVeL network in Belgium combines converted tracks, byways and towpaths, adding up to a total of , a significant figure considering the size of the country. The gradient is never more than six per cent and the tracks are open to all forms of non-motorised travellers, including cyclists, horse-riders, hikers and even roller-bladers.
There is also the Vennbahn, which runs along an unusual border between Belgium and Germany.

Finland

is an old cargo railway track in Helsinki, which was converted into a pedestrian and bicycle trail.

France

Germany

Germany has the largest number of rail trails in Europe, with 677 rail trails with a total length of . 80 more projects are being planned or under construction. Some of the longest rail trails are in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate; these are the Maare-Mosel-Radweg with on the old rail track, the Ruwer-Hochwald-Radweg with on the old rail track, and the Schinderhannes-Radweg with on the old track of the Hunsrück Railway. To date, the 23 km long Nordbahntrasse in Wuppertal is still the rail trail with the highest standard in Germany and is a prime example of conversion of an abandoned railway track into a multi-user cycling path.

Ireland

Cuts to Ireland's once expansive rail network in the mid-20th century left the country with a vast network of disused railways. While many lines were ripped up and the sections of the land acquired by private owners, a number of former railways are extant, thus providing the option for the development of many rail trails in the future.
The rail-trail on the former Westport to Achill Island line, known as the Great Western Greenway, was completed in 2011. Much progress has been made on the development of a rail-trail on the former Limerick to Tralee/Fenit line, in the form of the Great Southern Trail. As of 2013, a section from Rathkeale to Abbeyfeale has been completed.
Planning permission has been granted to redevelop the former Galway to Clifden railway into a greenway, but negotiations are still underway with landowners regarding its routing. A section of the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway railway line, from Claremorris to Collooney, has been touted for redevelopment as a greenway, but has met with some recent opposition from groups wishing for re-establishment of the railway itself.

Spain

With more than 2,500 kilometres of rail trails in a network of 117 cycling and walking itineraries, Spain ranks high in the European greenways scene. The trails are managed or coordinated by the Spanish Railways Foundation, an institution created in 1985. Many of the converted tracks were originally built for the mining industry, connecting remote mountain sites with port locations on the coast; they now offer picturesque rides from wild interior landscapes to the seaside, following near-flat routes with long-spanning viaducts and bridges, plus a number of tunnels.

United Kingdom

With almost 150 lines in use, the United Kingdom has the second-largest network of rail trails in Europe after Germany. The development of rail trails in the United Kingdom grew after a major programme of railway line closures in the 1960s, known as the Beeching cuts. The scheme, named after Dr. Richard Beeching, the then chairman of British Railways, recommended the decommissioning of approximately of railway lines all over Great Britain. Many rural and suburban lines were closed, along with selected main line trunk routes. Since then, approximately of disused railway lines in Britain have been converted to public leisure purposes; today, the majority of rail trails are maintained by either the local authority or charitable organisations, such as Sustrans, the Railway Ramblers or Railway Paths. A section of the Tarka Trail in Devon is one of the longest of these.
Many of these former railway lines form part of the British National Cycle Network, connecting with long-distance paths and towpaths along Britain's extensive network of canals. For example, the Milton Keynes redway system runs throughout Milton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, England, in parts using the former trackbed of the defunct Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line and the Grand Union Canal towpath. Together, these paths form part of the long-distance National Cycle Network Route 6 and Route 51.
Other urban and suburban rail trails include the:
Notable rural rail trails include the:
In London, a more unusual scheme has been proposed to convert some disused London Underground tunnels into subterranean rail trails under the city, but this scheme has not been officially approved.