49 U.S.C. § 10905
Section 10905 · Offering abandoned rail properties for sale for public purposes
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 132 court decisions — leading case Hayfield Northern Railroad v. Chicago & North Western Transportation Co. (1984)
Most recently applied in 121 Fed. Cl. 658 - Caquelin v. United States (June 2015)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (33 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 49 U.S.C. § 10903 · 49 U.S.C. § 10901 · 49 U.S.C. § 10904
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
When the Board approves an application to abandon or discontinue under section 10903, the Board shall find whether the rail properties that are involved in the proposed abandonment or discontinuance are appropriate for use for public purposes, including highways, other forms of mass transportation, conservation, energy production or transmission, or recreation. If the Board finds that the rail properties proposed to be abandoned are appropriate for public purposes and not required for continued rail operations, the properties may be sold, leased, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of only under conditions provided in the order of the Board. The conditions may include a prohibition on any such disposal for a period of not more than 180 days after the effective date of the order, unless the properties have first been offered, on reasonable terms, for sale for public purposes.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 10906 of this title prior to the general amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104–88, §102(a).
A prior section 10905, Pub. L. 95–473, Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 1405; Pub. L. 96–448, title IV, §402(c), Oct. 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 1942; Pub. L. 103–272, §4(j)(26), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1369, related to offers of financial assistance to avoid abandonment and discontinuance, prior to the general amendment of this subtitle by Pub. L. 104–88, §102(a). See section 10904 of this title.