There are a lot of imaginative uses for abandoned railroad tracks out there, from awesome urban parks like New York's High Line to bike and pedestrian highways. Lloyd, however, points out the downside to permanently removing tracks:

The following question arose in Hamilton: Can recreational cycle paths attract funding (subsidy) from the NZTA?

NZTA (NZ Transport Agency) is the government land transport funding agency, they were  formerly LTNZ, and prior to that Transfund, just in case you know them by their old names.

So, can those recreational facilities be subsidised? Strictly speaking no, because government has strange rules. They fund recreational roads (e.g. SH1 to Cape Reinga, or SH94 to Milford Sound), but not recreational pathways.