The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
(Cite as: 5 V.S.A. § 3408)
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§ 3408. Railbanking; notification
(a) If the Secretary finds that the continued operation of any State-owned railroad property
is not economically feasible under present conditions, the Secretary may place the
line in railbanked status after giving advance notice of the planned railbanking to
the House and Senate Committees on Transportation when the General Assembly is in
session, and when the General Assembly is not in session, to the Joint Transportation
Oversight Committee. The Agency, on behalf of the State, shall continue to hold the
right-of-way of a railbanked line for reactivation of railroad service or for other
public purposes not inconsistent with future reactivation of railroad service. The
railbanking shall not be treated, for purposes of any law or rule of law, as an abandonment
of the use of the rights-of-way for railroad purposes.
(b) The Secretary may enter into agreements with units of federal, state, and local governments,
as well as with responsible private persons, for interim use of the right-of-way of
a railbanked line, provided that the interim use is not inconsistent with future reactivation
of railroad service.
(c)(1) The Secretary may, after consulting with municipalities, adopt rules consistent with
the provisions of section 3408a of this chapter governing the interim trail use of
State-owned railroad rights-of-way that have been placed in railbanked status.
(2) Signs indicating the rules shall be conspicuously posted in or near all areas affected.
(3) Any person who violates rules adopted pursuant to this subsection shall be subject
to a penalty of not more than $300.00. (Added 1987, No. 211 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 26, 1988; amended 1993, No. 211 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. June 17, 1994; 2009, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 37; 2025, No. 43, § 8, eff. July 1, 2025.)