Active rail with active trail!

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Rail-with-Trail? Do these really exist? Yes they do and here are photos of two of them. The first is in Cumberland, MD and the other is in Maine. Both of these "rails" are occasional and moderate speed tourist trains and neither has any barrier to separate the trail from the rail. We have members who have ridden alongside rails with frequent, fast-moving freight traffic, and even faster passenger trains, all safely separated from the rails. There are more than 150 such rails-with- trails nationwide.
So, what's the secret for getting them built? Actually there are two: first, effective barriers that make both cyclist and rail employees feel safer and, second, there exists legislation limiting liability for accidents along the shared right-of-way. Maybe a third one would be a railroad with strong community-oriented goals willing to work with a trail building organization like ours. We will need all these secrets in our bag as we get busy creating our rail-with-trail here in Plainville. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
hi all
http://www.tor.com/community/users/billsentece1970
http://www.tor.com/community/users/forraligo1981
http://www.tor.com/community/users/loachardphere1970
http://www.tor.com/community/users/verzchanrozos1976
http://www.tor.com/community/users/bardepofull1978
September 22, 2010 at 11:48 AM
Anonymous said…
Keep the rail line intact that's a must! Build a path beside the tracks.
September 18, 2011 at 9:54 PM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
December 14, 2012 at 7:48 PM
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