Whether federal law preempts state law on railroad right-of-way abandonment

QUESTION PRESENTED Federal law expressly grants to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) exclusive jurisdiction over the abandonment of rail lines, 49 U.S.C. § 10501, meaning that no rail line can be considered abandoned without the STB’s authorization. The National Trails System Act (Trails Act), Pub. L. No. 90-548, 82 Stat. 919 (codified as amended at 16 U.S.C. § 1241 et seq.), authorizes the conversion of unused rail lines to use as recreational trails, subject to later restoration to active rail use, as an alternative to abandonment of the lines. 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d). The Trails Act provides that, when the conversion of a rail line to interim use as a trail “is subject to restoration or reconstruction for railroad purposes, such interim use shall not be treated, for purposes of any law or rule of law, as an abandonment of the use of such rights-of-way for railroad purposes.” Ibid. The question presented is: Whether federal law giving the STB exclusive jurisdiction over abandonment of rail lines and expressly stating that conversion of a railroad right-of-way to an interim trail use shall not be treated “for purposes of any law” as abandonment, preempts state law that would deem a railroad right-of-way abandoned because of disuse or conversion to interim trail use.