Do you think they should give a tax break to the railroad companies if they turn their old right of ways into?

Question

very long , cross country hike and bike trails especially the ones that go through the most beautiful scenery in the country?

Answer 1

It's done all the time.  In most instances, a carriers generosity is more for public relations than tax consideration.

Secondarily, it relieves the carrier from any liability that may arise out of continued ownership of the abandoned rail line.

Answer 2

Well, when a railroad right-of-way is turned into parkland, the railroad has either given it or lent it to the municipality, and so that land can no longer be taxed anyway.

Answer 3

The USA has had some very good luck with that.  http://www.railtrails.org/index.html

A side-effect is it keeps the route (right-of-way) intact for future use - pipelines, transit, railroads!  Otherwise the right-of-way gets parceled out to people who build homes, businesses, etc. and it becomes 100x more expensive and political to buy it back for use as a right-of-way.