State Departments of Transportation are supposed to produce or update a railroad document every four or five years. It’s called a state rail plan. Nebraska’s plan is the oldest in the country, and rail advocates say that has consequences.
Nebraska’s rail plan was last updated in 2003. New York last updated its rail plan in 2009 and Montana in 2010. All other states have produced a rail plan within the last 10 years. A rail plan is a document that will lay out a state’s vision for rail development and projects, while also summarizing facts and details about railroads in the state.