On this episode of Train Time, Tom Sexton, NE Regional Director for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, explains the growing movement to combine passenger rail service and multi-use trails. While many people think that trails mean no trains, the reality is that the two forms of transportation work well together, and offer benefits to both rail service providers and to the walkers and cyclists who enjoy the expanding network of trails. Examples abound, and Tom points out ways this design approach could be applied more widely on existing and new or restored rail lines.

Transcript

Note: This transcript was created using AI and is imperfect. For purposes of quotation, please check the actual recording! It is time-stamped , which is useful as a guide to finding a point in the recording, but please be aware that the time-stamps may not be a perfect match to the published podcast.

SPEAKERS: Tom Sexton, Karen Christensen; recorded Tue, 11/9/21 11:14AM • 24:36

Karen Christensen 01:43
Tom, good morning. How are you?

Tom Sexton 01:45
I’m well, thank you.

Karen Christensen 01:47
Glad we could do this. Although I must admit, I think back to the time when you came to Great Barrington, we were live at St. James place with people all around the room. This is a little bit different.

Tom Sexton 02:01
Yeah, I’m I’m intrigued. I haven’t done one of these quite in this in this matter before.

Karen Christensen 02:07
But it gives us a chance to talk about something that’s actually important, interesting and surprising. to a larger audience. I remember when you came to Great Barrington and spoke about rails with trails, how surprised and energized people were, by the end of that, because it was like, their eyes were wide open, they’d never thought of it. So that’s, that’s what, why don’t you tell us, I think the thing that’s better known as rails to trails, and this is, of course, train time, we’re talking about Rails most of the time, so. But you bring it a different perspective on rails and trails.

Tom Sexton 02:57
Yes, most people think of rail trails, that’s the, you know, that’s the product when you’re all done developing a corridor and, and the actual trail part of it. But rails with trails are a subset of, of the, the 24,000 miles of rail trails, we have in the United States, and we’re finding that many more rails with trails are coming online. And overall, it’s really smart to share rights of way these corridors, these linear corridors, they’re harder to create every year, because there’s more stakeholders. United States, the planet is getting denser, it’s hard to just draw a line on a map and say, we’re going to go from A to B. And we’ll work it out on the way that was easy. When across the Great Plains, and you didn’t have to relocate people in other services and go under or over. And now, it’s, it’s a different story. So to look at totally, we need to share rights of way these these corridors with with each other, it doesn’t matter if it’s a highway, or utility, or a railroad, it’s r