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FOOTHILLS—A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a landowner who owns property adjacent to the Saluda Grade rail line. The rail line will be converted into the Saluda Grade Trail, a public recreational hiking and biking trail.

Attorneys from Lewis Rice’s Federal Takings & Rails to Trails Practice filed the case in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The lawsuit alleges that the federal government owes the landowner, Anne F. Day, compensation for the 31.3-mile conversion of the rail line, which crosses over her property.

Norfolk Southern Railway Company owned the rail line until October 31, 2024, when it filed an abandonment exemption to gain permission to stop using it. On December 2, the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy requested the federal Surface Transportation Board issue a Notice of Interim Trail Use or Abandonment. Shortly after, the board issued the notice for the rail line, clearing the way to create the public recreational trail.

The trail, which will stretch from Inman, South Carolina, to Zirconia, North Carolina, will impact hundreds of additional landowners in Henderson and Polk counties in North Carolina and Greenville and Spartanburg counties in South Carolina. Attorneys with Lewis Rice Law Firm say many of these landowners are eligible for compensation but have not yet filed a claim. 

Affected property owners can find more information by visiting www.railstotrailslaw.com.