One thing is that when a piece of rail line is to be abandoned, there's always salvage value that's part of it. One suggestion I've heard is to take the salvage out of the equation. So if that line ceased to operate, that would be fine, but the infrastructure would stay, and at some point in time, it might make economic sense to operate it again, especially with some of the environmental concerns that are becoming more and more present. That's one idea.
Another idea is that because short-line operators have to deal with the major railways for rates, some protections there to allow their viability might also be useful.