Because of structural problems with a bridge in Montgomery County, the last train on the line ran in June, 1985. At that time, the only customers were the General Services Administration (GSA) heating plant at 29th and K streets and a small building supply company in Bethesda. Three months later, Chessie indicated that they would ask the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) for permission to abandon the line. Chessie claimed they were losing money on the line and that it detracted from the scenery around the Washington Harbor Condominiums, of which Chessie was a part owner. Local governments and the National Park Service began trying to acquire the land for a trail and transit corridor as early as 1985, when the Interstate Commerce Commission informed them that the National Trails System Act of 1968 could not be used to force Chessie to turn the land over. Problems with the line were exacerbated after the Potomac River flood in November undermined about 75 feet of roadbed near Fletcher's Boathouse. Before the abandonment, Chessie made plans to sell the section in the Palisades to a developer, and offered to sell it for $15 million. Chessie, by then part of the CSX Corporation, asked for permission to abandon the line in April 1986. The abandonment was completed in April 1988 and most of the track removed by the mid 1990s.