The state of Iowa has no regulatory authority concerning railroad abandonments. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) assumed responsibility for abandonments from the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1995. Dockets dated 1996 or later are available from Surface Transportation Board. The STB is the only entity with regulatory authority pertaining to railroad abandonments. The All filings before the STB for a specific abandonment (or more recent actions) can be found by entering the Docket Number in the Search on the STB Website. The below reports are updated quarterly. To receive the most current information it is recommended to visit the STB website directly.
Highway authorities: Once the rail is removed through the railroad crossing and the surface is restored in-kind, highway authorities are responsible for removing any advance warning signs, pavement markings and any other signage related to the highway-railroad crossing at or near the location of the railroad crossing. Once the crossing and signage are removed, highway authorities are asked to advise the Iowa DOT rail abandonment coordinator (listed below) so that the state-wide highway-railroad crossing inventory database can be updated. Rail Abandonment Coordinator: Maria Hobbs maria.hobbs@iowadot.us Phone: 515-239-1088
Current Abandonments
The following reports and logs have been created with information directly from the STB website. Notes regarding the Current Abandonment Activity report and Chronological list of Iowa Rail abandonments include:
- The effective date can be stayed or extended for any number of possible reasons. This date represents the earliest possible date the abandonment can be effective. The most common reason for a stay is for trails use negotiation. Final abandonment or acquisition for rail or trails use may be significantly later.
- A railroad has one year after a successful abandonment action to consummate or complete the abandonment. Most often, removal of rail & signals, restoration of any crossing surfaces, etc., occurs within that one-year period, but is not required to occur in a specific time frame. When purchased for trail use, removal of rail, signals, restoration of any crossing surfaces, etc., may occur during the negotiation period or be negotiated between the railroad and trail owner after a sale.
Historical Abandonments
- Docket Numbers preceded by "IDOT" are fictitious and were created for computer identification only.
- Dates flowed by " ~ " are fictitious and were created for computer use only. However, the year shown is correct.
- CITU = Certificate Of Interim Trails Use under provisions of the National Trails System Act adopted by Congress in 1983
Chronological list of Iowa Rail Abandonments (1911 to 2025) (2.61 MB) .pdf