Welcome to NC Rail-Trails!

North Carolina Rail-Trails preserves rail corridors and works with communities across North Carolina to create trails for public use on abandoned rail corridors.

Rail-trails differ from other trails and greenways in several characteristics. The terrain for rail-trails is generally flat or gently sloped because the land was originally engineered for rail use. This makes rail-trails wonderful places to ride a bike and many are wheelchair accessible. Also, rail corridors are usually wide enough to accommodate many different types of trail use: biking, walking, jogging, horseback riding, dog walking, pogo-sticking … the possibilities are endless.

Another positive attribute of a rail-trail is that it actually goes somewhere. Just as trains go from one community to the next, so does the rail-trail, creating a natural link between communities. Today, we can maintain these community links by utilizing existing rail corridors that are so perfectly suited for trails.

Does your community have an abandoned railroad? Would you like to have a safe place to play and exercise while preserving your community’s train heritage? Please contact NCRT if you would like us to help you create a rail-trail in your area.

Link to News Archive

To see all earlier NEWS items please go to our News Archives page.

We've added some new trail images to our Photo Gallery.

posted by curt on April 10, 2017

The final Newsletter is now online and can be downloaded at the following link until this site is taken off-line later this year:
Winter

posted by curt on May 5, 2016

North Carolina's Parks and Recreation Division has issued a very nice 21 page booklet in PDF form which has pictures and descriptions of walking and paddle trails throughout the State.

posted by emily on December 22, 2015

Happy merry holidays from Santa AL and all of us at North Carolina Rail-Trails!
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