U of M Bike Trail

[talindsay]

Most of it is paved but the short bit actually crossing the tracks is dirt. I know most of the distance is UMN ROW, and my guess is that the tracks you have to cross are actually BNSF ROW but the U has an easement. I've been harrassed by BNSF "police" along the Dinkytown Greenway before the bike path was there but I've never seen any BNSF people on the segment hugging the river so my guess is that it's all UMN patrolled there, whatever the actual ownership is. Regardless, nobody seems to care about use on that part, though I try to carry my UMN ID just in case.

[mulad]

It's been mentioned before that BNSF cops are actual police. I know it's strange, but they are. I'm also pretty sure that the service road is still owned by the railroad -- it looks like there's still a single spur track running next to it. The Hennepin County property map says it's owned by BNSF/Great Northern Ry., though it includes most of the Stone Arch Bridge on the same parcel...

[talindsay]

Federal law only stipulates that railroad police who are properly deputized in one state automatically have officer status in another state *IF THAT STATE DEPUTIZES RAILROAD POLICE*. It looks like Minnesota is not a cut-and-dried case because they *don't*, but they sometimes sort of grant some police-like powers. There's a good thread at railroad.net:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 25&t=87380

And obviously Wikipedia is not gospel, but this piece on Union Pacific police explicitly mentions that Minnesota and Wyoming do not grant authority to railroad police at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Paci ... Department

And finally the Minnesota Comprehensive Freight and Passenger Rail Plan explicitly states that, "Minnesota and Wyoming are the only two states where railroad police are not deputized, and thus must rely on local law enforcement authorities whose priorities may differ." (p. 6-7)

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/planning/rai ... nships.pdf[pdf]

[mulad]

Ah, that explains my confusion. Such is life in these wonderful United States, where every state has to be different.