Railroad Resources

The North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) maintains a strong partnership with the North Carolina Society of Surveyors (NCSS). Requests for information related to projects adjacent to the NCRR corridor should be directed to NCRR in order to obtain the most recent, accurate information.  

North Carolina Railroad Company Information – NCRR takes a proactive approach to assist surveyors with projects adjacent to the NCRR corridor,  resulting in numerous solutions and successful survey projects with better, more accurate railroad information.  

  1. If your project is adjacent to the NCRR corridor, please visit the Surveyors section of the NCRR website for assistance. 
  2. Fill out and submit a Data Disclosure Agreement for Engineering and Surveying Professionals and NCRR can provide resources, documentation, and survey quality data that may be useful to your project. 

    The North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) announces changes to the Right of Entry Permit fee to access its corridor. This change applies to construction, demolition, environmental, event access, inspections, maintenance, preliminary engineering work, removal, and surveys. For nearly two decades NCRR was able to avoid assessing fees associated with Right of Entry Permits. The goal was to ensure safe and efficient access to the corridor.  NCRR is still committed to this goal and knows our partners are as well.  However, with constantly increasing development pressure along our railroad corridor, NCRR has found it is no longer sustainable and must begin associating a fee with Right of Entry Permits.  NCRR will be introducing Right of Entry Permit fees at $250, to address administrative costs associated with processing applications and managing the permits.

If your project is not adjacent to the NCRR corridor, the following information has been organized for easy reference:

North Carolina Rail Network Maps –These resources are interactive maps that show the rail network in NC, or nationwide, and can help determine which railroad a surveyor’s project may be near. 

  • North Carolina Railroad Company – Corridor Map:  An interactive map of the NCRR corridor.  Users can see the NCRR corridor line in relation to the rest of the NC rail network (by rail operator) as well as passenger routes.  Hard copy versions of this map can also be downloaded from this page.
  • NCDOT North Carolina Rail System – ArcGIS Online Application: A GIS application that allows users to find rail-related information in NC.  This includes public crossing information, milepost ranges, and which company owns and/or operates any given rail line.  This data is updated quarterly by NCDOT Rail Division.
  • FRA Safety Map – Online GIS Application: This application accomplishes much of the same as the NCDOT application, however, this one is nationwide and may contain information that NCDOT does not have (milepost locations).  Users can also search by county, export information, and add data from a file or web service.

Railroad Valuation Map Information - Created by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), these maps provide railroad engineering and/or property details and were maintained through the 1960s (approximately).

NCDOT Val Map Finder – Online GIS Application: A GIS application that allows users to find railroad valuation maps for a specific area of interest. 

Norfolk Southern Valuation Map Request: A manual request for valuation maps not found on the NCDOT Val Map Finder application.  Other resources on this page may be useful in determining which Val Map you will need when filling out the request form (Railroad line, Division, Milepost, etc.).

CSX Valuation Map Request: A manual request for valuation maps not found on the NCDOT Val Map Finder application.  Other resources on this page may be useful in determining which Val Map you will need when filling out the request form (Railroad line, Division, Milepost, etc.).

National Archives Valuation Map Information: Information regarding railroad valuation maps.  A resource to find a valuation map if all other sources prove to be unsuccessful. 

General Railroad Resources

Carolana.com: Most railroads have changed ownership, or names, over the past 100 years. A current railroad may have a predecessor name and since many surveyors are required to perform occasional title research, this is a useful website to help determine the name of any given railroad in NC during a particular decade.  Knowing the railroad’s predecessor name may be useful in grantee/grantor searches when trying to find a specific recorded document.

Railway Association of North Carolina: Contact information for North Carolina’s regional railroads.

North Carolina Operation Lifesaver: North Carolina’s chapter of the national organization promoting safety among pedestrians and motorists near railroad tracks.