New Abandonments
	Sign Up to receive Early Warning System Notices ILLINOIS: Cook County 08/29/2008  NORTH DAKOTA: Bottineau, Rolette and Towner Counties 08/18/2008  MINNESOTA: Norman County 08/14/2008  TENNESSEE: Shelby County 07/31/2008  PENNSYLVANIA: Berks and Montgomery Counties 07/31/2008  GEORGIA: Fulton and Clayton Counties 07/25/2008  OHIO: Hamilton County 07/16/2008  KANSAS: Osborne, Rooks and Smith Counties 07/08/2008
	RTC Resources
	Acquiring Rail Corridors: A How-to Manual A How-to Manual, Chapter 6, "Can You Take Advantage of Railbanking?" Secrets of Successful Rail-Trails, Chapter 7, "What to Do if the Line is Soon to be Abandoned" Report: Railbanking and Rail-Trails: A Legacy for the Future Fact Sheet: Railbanking "Rails-to-Trails Conversions: A Review of Legal Issues" by Andrea Ferster More on RTC website about railbanking... Ask Our Listserv:Learn about trail development from the experts! Join our listserv to be connected to over 900 trail managers, advocates, and builders across the country. Visit RTC's Trails and Greenways Publication Library For more information, please contact the appropriate regional or national office.
	Additional Resources
	Surface Transportation Board: Public Information: Resources: Rails-to-Trails  General Accounting Office (GAO): "Issues Related to Preserving Inactive Rail Lines as Trails"  American Trails: Rails-to-Trails  The National Park Service: The National Trails System Act

Early Warning System:
Alerting local communities of rail abandonments for corridor preservation and future trail use 

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy monitors requests filed by the Surface Transportation Board  (the Federal agency which oversees rail transactions) and notifies community activists and officials of impending abandonments. Notifications through the Early Warning System include the tools and information needed to successfully preserve rail corridors for public- and trail- use through railbanking. 

Federal regulations require interested parties to request railbanking within 30 to 45 days, so without this program, many community leaders would learn of rail abandonments too late. 

If you would like to receive notice of pending rail abandonments in your area via RTC's Early Warning System, please join our Early Warning System notification list. By joining, you will receive:

• Notifications of railroad abandonments in your state;
• Tools needed to successfully preserve rail corridors for trail use;
• Contact information for state agency representatives active in trail development.

Working together we can help preserve railroad corridors and create a robust network of trails that shape how people live, work and play in communities across this country.