From Rails to Trails Docu, Narrated by Edward Norton, Gets PBS Premiere Date and Trailer (Exclusive)
Airing Wednesday, Oct. 15, on public television stations nationwide (check local listings) and streaming on PBS.org, From Rails to Trails chronicles the 60-year struggle — and transformative triumph — of one of America's most unlikely grassroots movements.
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Get an exclusive first look at a trailer above.
Trails whose origins are featured include the Illinois Prairie Path in suburban Chicago; the Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle; the Atlanta Beltline; the West Rail Trail in Brownsville, Texas, which became one of the most bike- and pedestrian-friendly cities in the state; The High Line in New York City, built on an elevated railroad track from the 1930s; the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, which introduced the rail-trail movement to decision-makers in Congress; and The Great American Rail-Trail, which is halfway complete and aims to connect 3,700 miles of rail trails into a coast-to-coast route, from Washington, D.C., to Washington State.
From Rails to Trails also visits Queens, N.Y., where government and nonprofit organizations are lobbying to turn abandoned LIRR tracks into a linear park à la The High Line — though opponents hope the city will use the tracks to restore train and subway service to the cut-off community
Directed by Dan Protess (Up'N Running, 10 That Changed America), From Rails to Trails navigates the complex legal and political landscape that shaped the rail-trail movement, from property rights disputes to the landmark 'railbanking' legislation passed by Congress in 1983, which preserved abandoned rail corridors for future rail use while allowing them to be repurposed as trails.
Interview subjects include former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean (who shares the story of how Burlington's Island Line Trail became the subject of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case), former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (whose father had a role in creating the 32-mile Elroy-Sparta Trail, often regarded as America's first successful rail-trail and famous for its three cavernous tunnels), and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy co-founder Peter Harnik, who's also an executive producer on the documentary.
'Having spent my career advocating for the rails-to-trails movement, I've seen firsthand how abandoned rail lines — once scars across the landscape — have become lifelines for communities,' says Harnik. 'From the unlikely launch of the movement to today's coast-to-coast vision, From Rails to Trails captures the grit, imagination and passion that made it all possible.'
Adds director Dan Protess, 'I use my local rail-trail twice a day: for a morning run, and an after-dinner walk with family. Working on this program, I came to realize that the green space that is so integral to my life didn't just happen by accident — people had to fight hard to make it a reality.'
Are you a rail-trail aficionado? Me, I'll be on Cape Cod's early next month!
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