(a)

(1) All transfers or conveyances of any interest in rail property (whether real, personal, or mixed) which are made under any provision of or amendment made by this subtitle shall be exempt from any taxes, imposts, or levies now or hereby imposed, by the United States or by any State or any political subdivision of a State, on or in connection with such transfers or conveyances or on the recording of deeds, bills of sale, liens, encumbrances, easements, or other instruments evidencing, effectuating, or incident to any such transfers or conveyances, whether imposed on the transferor or on the transferee. Such transferors and transferees shall be entitled to record any such deeds, bills of sale, liens, encumberances,¹ easements, or other instruments, and to record the release or removal of any preexisting liens or encumbrances of record with respect to properties so transferred or conveyed, upon payment of any appropriate and generally applicable charges to compensate for the cost of the service performed.

(2) This section shall not apply to Federal income tax laws.

(b) Transfer of designated real property (including any interest in real property) authorized by the amendments made by part 2 of this subtitle shall have the same effect for purposes of rights and priorities with respect to such property as recordation on the transfer date of appropriate deeds, or other appropriate instruments, in offices appointed under State law for such recordation, except that acquiring rail carriers and other entities shall proffer such deeds or other instruments for recordation within 36 months after the transfer date as a condition of preserving such rights and priorities beyond the expiration of that period. Conrail shall cooperate in effecting the timely preparation, execution, and proffering for recordation of such deeds and other instruments.