Bill Text: IL HB3755 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Engrossed
Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that no rail carrier shall operate a train or light engine used in connection with the movement of freight unless it has an operating crew consisting of at least 2 individuals. Provides that the minimum freight train crew size shall remain in effect until a federal law or rule encompassing the subject matter has been adopted. Grants the Illinois Commerce Commission the power to conduct evidentiary hearings, make findings, and issue and enforce orders, including sanctions, with respect to freight train crew member size. Provides that the term "train or light engine" does not include trains operated by a hostler service or utility employees.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-4)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-05-31 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [HB3755 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2015-HB3755-Engrossed.html
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | AN ACT concerning transportation.
| ||||||
| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| ||||||
| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
| ||||||
| 4 | Section 1. Findings. It is the public policy of the State | ||||||
| 5 | of Illinois to enhance public safety by establishing a minimum | ||||||
| 6 | freight train operating crew size to address the transportation | ||||||
| 7 | of all freight, including but not limited to hazardous and | ||||||
| 8 | volatile materials, on the railroads of Illinois. The | ||||||
| 9 | transportation of this freight, coupled with substantially | ||||||
| 10 | longer trains, creates significant health, safety, and | ||||||
| 11 | security concerns for local communities. Adequate railroad | ||||||
| 12 | operating personnel are critical to ensuring railroad | ||||||
| 13 | operational safety and security and in supporting first | ||||||
| 14 | responder activities in the event of a hazardous material | ||||||
| 15 | incident, grade crossing incident, or mechanical failure.
| ||||||
| 16 | Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing | ||||||
| 17 | Section 18c-7402 as follows:
| ||||||
| 18 | (625 ILCS 5/18c-7402) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 18c-7402)
| ||||||
| 19 | Sec. 18c-7402. Safety Requirements for Railroad | ||||||
| 20 | Operations.
| ||||||
| 21 | (1) Obstruction of Crossings.
| ||||||
| 22 | (a) Obstruction of Emergency Vehicles.
Every railroad | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | shall be operated in such a manner as to
minimize | ||||||
| 2 | obstruction of emergency vehicles at crossings.
Where such | ||||||
| 3 | obstruction occurs and the train crew is
aware of the | ||||||
| 4 | obstruction, the train crew shall
immediately take any | ||||||
| 5 | action, consistent with safe
operating procedure, | ||||||
| 6 | necessary to remove the
obstruction. In the Chicago and St. | ||||||
| 7 | Louis switching
districts, every railroad dispatcher or | ||||||
| 8 | other person
responsible for the movement of railroad | ||||||
| 9 | equipment in a
specific area who receives notification that | ||||||
| 10 | railroad
equipment is obstructing the movement of an | ||||||
| 11 | emergency
vehicle at any crossing within such area shall
| ||||||
| 12 | immediately notify the train crew through use of
existing | ||||||
| 13 | communication facilities. Upon notification,
the train | ||||||
| 14 | crew shall take immediate action in accordance
with this | ||||||
| 15 | paragraph.
| ||||||
| 16 | (b) Obstruction of Highway at Grade Crossing | ||||||
| 17 | Prohibited.
It is unlawful for a rail carrier to permit any | ||||||
| 18 | train,
railroad car or engine to obstruct public travel at | ||||||
| 19 | a
railroad-highway grade crossing for a period in excess
of | ||||||
| 20 | 10 minutes, except where such train or railroad car
is | ||||||
| 21 | continuously moving or cannot be moved by reason of
| ||||||
| 22 | circumstances over which the rail carrier has no
reasonable | ||||||
| 23 | control.
| ||||||
| 24 | In a county with a population of greater than 1,000,000, as | ||||||
| 25 | determined by
the most recent federal census, during the
hours | ||||||
| 26 | of 7:00 a.m. through 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. through 6:00 p.m. | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | it is
unlawful for a rail carrier to permit any single train or | ||||||
| 2 | railroad car to
obstruct
public travel at a railroad-highway | ||||||
| 3 | grade crossing in excess of a total of 10
minutes during a 30 | ||||||
| 4 | minute period, except where the train or railroad
car
cannot be | ||||||
| 5 | moved by reason or circumstances over which the rail carrier | ||||||
| 6 | has no
reasonable control. Under no circumstances will a moving | ||||||
| 7 | train be stopped for
the purposes of
issuing a citation related | ||||||
| 8 | to this Section.
| ||||||
| 9 | However, no employee acting under the rules or orders of | ||||||
| 10 | the rail carrier or
its supervisory personnel may be prosecuted | ||||||
| 11 | for a violation of this
subsection (b).
| ||||||
| 12 | (c) Punishment for Obstruction of Grade Crossing.
Any | ||||||
| 13 | rail carrier violating paragraph (b) of this
subsection | ||||||
| 14 | shall be guilty of a petty offense and fined
not less than | ||||||
| 15 | $200 nor more than $500 if the duration of
the obstruction | ||||||
| 16 | is in excess of 10 minutes but no longer
than 15 minutes. | ||||||
| 17 | If the duration of the obstruction
exceeds 15 minutes the | ||||||
| 18 | violation shall be a business
offense and the following | ||||||
| 19 | fines shall be imposed: if
the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
| 20 | is in excess of 15
minutes but no longer than 20 minutes, | ||||||
| 21 | the fine shall be
$500; if the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
| 22 | is in excess of
20 minutes but no longer than 25 minutes, | ||||||
| 23 | the fine shall
be $700; if the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
| 24 | is in excess
of 25 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes, | ||||||
| 25 | the fine
shall be $900; if the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
| 26 | is in
excess of 30 minutes but no longer than 35 minutes, | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | the
fine shall be $1,000; if the duration of the | ||||||
| 2 | obstruction
is in excess of 35 minutes, the fine shall be | ||||||
| 3 | $1,000
plus an additional $500 for each 5 minutes of
| ||||||
| 4 | obstruction in excess of 25 minutes of obstruction.
| ||||||
| 5 | (2) Other Operational Requirements.
| ||||||
| 6 | (a) Bell and Whistle-Crossings.
Every rail carrier | ||||||
| 7 | shall cause a bell, and a whistle or
horn to be placed and | ||||||
| 8 | kept on each locomotive, and shall
cause the same to be | ||||||
| 9 | rung or sounded by the engineer or
fireman, at the distance | ||||||
| 10 | of a least 1,320 feet, from the
place where the railroad | ||||||
| 11 | crosses or intersects any
public highway, and shall be kept | ||||||
| 12 | ringing or sounding
until the highway is reached; provided | ||||||
| 13 | that at crossings
where the Commission shall by order | ||||||
| 14 | direct, only after a hearing has been
held to determine the | ||||||
| 15 | public is reasonably and sufficiently protected, the rail
| ||||||
| 16 | carrier may be excused from giving warning provided by
this | ||||||
| 17 | paragraph.
| ||||||
| 18 | (a-5) The requirements of paragraph (a) of this
| ||||||
| 19 | subsection (2) regarding ringing a bell and sounding a
| ||||||
| 20 | whistle or horn do not apply at a railroad crossing that
| ||||||
| 21 | has a permanently installed automated audible warning
| ||||||
| 22 | device authorized by the Commission under Section
| ||||||
| 23 | 18c-7402.1 that sounds automatically when an approaching
| ||||||
| 24 | train is at least 1,320 feet from the crossing and that
| ||||||
| 25 | keeps sounding until the lead locomotive has crossed the
| ||||||
| 26 | highway. The engineer or fireman may ring the bell or
sound | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | the whistle or horn at a railroad crossing that has a
| ||||||
| 2 | permanently installed audible warning device.
| ||||||
| 3 | (b) Speed Limits.
Each rail carrier shall operate its | ||||||
| 4 | trains in compliance
with speed limits set by the | ||||||
| 5 | Commission. The Commission
may set train speed limits only | ||||||
| 6 | where such limits are
necessitated by extraordinary | ||||||
| 7 | circumstances effecting
the public safety, and shall | ||||||
| 8 | maintain such train speed
limits in effect only for such | ||||||
| 9 | time as the extraordinary
circumstances prevail.
| ||||||
| 10 | The Commission and the Department of Transportation | ||||||
| 11 | shall conduct a study
of the relation between train speeds | ||||||
| 12 | and railroad-highway grade crossing
safety. The Commission | ||||||
| 13 | shall report the findings of the study to the General
| ||||||
| 14 | Assembly no later than January 5, 1997.
| ||||||
| 15 | (c) Special Speed Limit; Pilot Project. The Commission | ||||||
| 16 | and the
Board of the Commuter Rail Division of the Regional | ||||||
| 17 | Transportation Authority
shall conduct a pilot project in | ||||||
| 18 | the Village of
Fox River Grove, the site of the
fatal | ||||||
| 19 | school bus accident at a railroad crossing
on October 25, | ||||||
| 20 | 1995, in order to improve railroad crossing safety. For | ||||||
| 21 | this
project, the Commission is directed to set the maximum | ||||||
| 22 | train speed limit for
Regional Transportation Authority | ||||||
| 23 | trains at 50 miles per hour at intersections
on
that | ||||||
| 24 | portion of
the intrastate rail line located in the Village | ||||||
| 25 | of Fox River Grove.
If the Regional Transportation | ||||||
| 26 | Authority deliberately fails to comply with this
maximum | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | speed
limit, then any entity, governmental or otherwise, | ||||||
| 2 | that provides capital or
operational funds to the Regional | ||||||
| 3 | Transportation
Authority shall appropriately reduce or | ||||||
| 4 | eliminate that funding.
The Commission shall report
to the | ||||||
| 5 | Governor and the General Assembly on the results of this | ||||||
| 6 | pilot
project in January
1999, January 2000, and January | ||||||
| 7 | 2001. The Commission shall also submit a final
report on | ||||||
| 8 | the pilot project to the Governor and the General Assembly | ||||||
| 9 | in January
2001. The provisions of this
subsection (c), | ||||||
| 10 | other than this sentence, are inoperative after February 1,
| ||||||
| 11 | 2001.
| ||||||
| 12 | (d) Freight Train Crew Size. No rail carrier shall | ||||||
| 13 | operate or cause to operate a train or light engine used in | ||||||
| 14 | connection with the movement of freight unless it has an | ||||||
| 15 | operating crew consisting of at least 2 individuals. The | ||||||
| 16 | minimum freight train crew size indicated in this | ||||||
| 17 | subsection (d) shall remain in effect until a federal law | ||||||
| 18 | or rule encompassing the subject matter has been adopted. | ||||||
| 19 | The Commission, with respect to freight train crew member | ||||||
| 20 | size under this subsection (d), has the power to conduct | ||||||
| 21 | evidentiary hearings, make findings, and issue and enforce | ||||||
| 22 | orders, including sanctions under Section 18c-1704 of this | ||||||
| 23 | Chapter. For the purposes of this subsection (d), the term | ||||||
| 24 | "train or light engine" does not include trains operated by | ||||||
| 25 | a hostler service or utility employees. | ||||||
| 26 | (3) Report and Investigation of Rail Accidents.
| ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | (a) Reports.
Every rail carrier shall report to the | ||||||
| 2 | Commission, by
the speediest means possible, whether | ||||||
| 3 | telephone,
telegraph, or otherwise, every accident | ||||||
| 4 | involving its
equipment, track, or other property which | ||||||
| 5 | resulted in
loss of life to any person. In addition, such | ||||||
| 6 | carriers
shall file a written report with the Commission.
| ||||||
| 7 | Reports submitted under this paragraph shall be strictly
| ||||||
| 8 | confidential, shall be specifically prohibited from
| ||||||
| 9 | disclosure, and shall not be admissible in any
| ||||||
| 10 | administrative or judicial proceeding relating to the
| ||||||
| 11 | accidents reported.
| ||||||
| 12 | (b) Investigations.
The Commission may investigate all | ||||||
| 13 | railroad accidents
reported to it or of which it acquires | ||||||
| 14 | knowledge
independent of reports made by rail carriers, and | ||||||
| 15 | shall
have the power, consistent with standards and
| ||||||
| 16 | procedures established under the Federal Railroad Safety | ||||||
| 17 | Act, as amended, to
enter such
temporary orders as will | ||||||
| 18 | minimize the risk of future accidents pending notice,
| ||||||
| 19 | hearing, and final action by the Commission.
| ||||||
| 20 | (Source: P.A. 91-675, eff. 6-1-00; 92-284, eff. 8-9-01.)
| ||||||
