Railroad’s Track Cannot Be Taken by Local Development District

Gentry Locke’s rail group led a team that successfully defended a railroad from an expropriation action brought by a railroad development district in Louisiana state court seeking to acquire 2.7 miles of the railroad’s track that had been the subject of a federal abandonment proceeding. Gentry Locke removed the case to federal court where the development district argued that the track segment had been abandoned and thus fell outside federal jurisdiction. Gentry Locke successfully argued that the track, although previously abandoned, has been and is used as “excepted track” (spur, industrial, or side track), bringing it under the STB’s exclusive jurisdiction per 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b)(2), even though the STB does not regulate its construction or operation under § 10906.

The case is Northeast Louisiana Railroad Development District v. Delta Southern Railroad, Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103125 (W.D. La. 2024). Gentry Locke’s team was led by John Scheib and Noah Sullivan.