1. A state program for the physical preservation, in place, of property of lines of railroad, while service on such lines is discontinued, is hereby established to provide an alternative to actual abandonment.

2. The Department of Transportation shall determine whether a line of railroad is eligible for admission to the program. A rail line may be admitted if:

(a) The Surface Transportation Board has approved the line for abandonment or discontinuance of service or the Department of Transportation has determined that the line is potentially subject to abandonment;

(b) The owners, operators and users of the line, the Department of Transportation and all counties and cities affected have agreed to the admission of the line to the program; and

(c) The owners and operators of the line agree to suspend service on the line for 5 years without removing or disposing of any of the trackage or other operating rail properties of the line, as an alternative to abandonment, to permit consideration by interested parties of means of preventing the ultimate abandonment of the line.

3. At the end of 5 years the Department of Transportation may grant an extension, admitting the line of railroad to the program for not more than 5 additional years, if, in the judgment of the Director of the Department of Transportation:

(a) The line is still potentially subject to abandonment; and

(b) The extension will facilitate the restoration of service on the line.

4. The owner of a line of railroad which has been admitted to the program is entitled to an allowance for taxes on the trackage and other operating rail properties of the line admitted. The Department of Transportation shall provide to the Department of Taxation all information requested by the Department of Taxation to carry out the system of allowances for taxes on the operating property of lines admitted to the program.

(Added to NRS by 1979, 562; A 1997, 1631)