page_title: Rail trail
section_title: Typical features
hierarchical_section_title: Rail trail / Typical features
caption_attribution_description: English: Description: Cyclists crossing a bridge on eastern part of the Katy Trail in Missouri. This bridge crosses the Femme Osage Creek near its outlet into the Missouri River. It is encountered about mile marker 57.4, near Defiance. Source: Photographed on November 7, 1999 by Kbh3rd.
context_page_description: A rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway track into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding and snowmobiling. The characteristics of abandoned railways—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various developments. The term sometimes also covers trails running alongside working railways; these are called "rails with trails". Some shared trails are segregated, with the segregation achieved with or without separation. Many rail trails are long-distance trails.
  A rail trail may still include rails, such as light rail or streetcar. By virtue of their characteristic shape, some shorter rail trails are known as greenways and linear parks.
context_section_description: Most original rail lines were surveyed for ease of transport and gentle (often less than 2%) grades.  Therefore, the rail trails that succeeded them are often fairly straight and ideally suited to overcome steep or awkward terrain such as hills, escarpments, rivers, swamps, etc.  Rail trails often share space with linear utilities such as pipelines, electrical transmission wires, and telephone lines.
  Most purchase of railway land is dictated by the free market value of the land, so that land in urban and industrial cores is often impractical to purchase and convert.  Therefore, rail trails may end on the fringes of urban areas or near industrial areas and resume later, as discontinuous portions of the same rail line, separated by unaffordable or inappropriate land.
  A railroad right-of-way (easement) width varies based on the terrain, with a 100 feet (30 m) width being ample enough where little surface grading is required.  The initial 705 miles (1,135 km) stretch of the Illinois Central Railroad is the most liberal in the world with a width of 200 feet (61 m) along the whole length of the line. Rail trails are often graded and covered in gravel or crushed stone, although some are paved with asphalt and others are left as dirt.  Where rail bridges are incorporated into the trail, the only alterations (if any) tend to be adding solid walking areas on top of ties or trestles, though bridges in poorer condition do receive new guardrails, paint, and reinforcement.  If paved, they are especially suitable for people who use wheelchairs.
  Where applicable, the same trails used in the summer for walking, jogging, and inline skating can be used in the winter for Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, and sometimes snowmobiling.
caption: The Katy Trail crosses a creek on a preserved rail bridge in Missouri.
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