2012 Maine Revised Statutes
TITLE 23: HIGHWAYS
Chapter 619: INSPECTION AND INVESTIGATION OF RAILROADS
23 §7308. Safety provisions

Part 7: RAILROADS HEADING: PL 1987, C. 141, PT. A, §4 (NEW)

Subchapter 1: REVIEW AND MAINTENANCE HEADING: PL 1989, C. 398, §9 (NEW)

§7308. Safety provisions

1. Size and construction of caboose cars; penalty. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, no common carrier by railroad may use on its lines any caboose car, or other car used for like purposes, unless the caboose or other car shall be at least 29 feet in length, exclusive of platforms, and equipped with 2 4-wheel trucks and shall be of constructive strength equal, at least, to that of the 20-ton capacity freight cars constructed according to master car-builder standards and shall be provided with a door in each end and an outside platform across each end of the car. Each platform shall be not less than 24 inches in width and shall be equipped with proper guardrails, and with grab irons and steps for the safety of persons getting on and off the car. The steps shall be equipped with a suitable rod, board or other guard at each end and at the back, properly designed to prevent slipping from the step. Caboose cars shall be of standard height with a cupola or with an observation compartment extending from each side of the car, and with necessary closets and windows. Any common carrier who violates any of the provisions of this subsection shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500 for each offense, to be enforced on complaint or by indictment.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

2. Application of provisions. Subsection 1 shall apply to any corporation, or to any person or persons, while engaged as common carriers in the transportation by standard gauge railroad of passengers or property within this State to which the regulative power of this State extends. Subsection 1 shall not apply to any railroad company operating less than 20 miles of single track, nor to caboose cars used between the following points, namely: Between Waterville and Skowhegan; between Pittsfield and Hartland; between Burnham and Belfast; between Leeds Junction and Farmington; between Calais and Princeton; between Bangor and Bucksport; between Livermore Falls and Canton; and between Lewiston lower station and Bath, via Brunswick.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

3. Walks and handrails on railroad bridges. The Commissioner of Transportation shall have the right, upon complaint and after hearing, to require any common carrier by railroad to equip their bridges and trestles with suitable walks and handrails, if after hearing the commissioner finds that the walks and handrails are necessary for the safety of the public or railroad employees.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

4. Frogs and guardrails. Every railroad corporation operating a railroad or part of a railroad in the State shall adjust, fill or block the frogs and guardrails on its track, with the exception of guardrails on bridges, in a manner satisfactory to the Commissioner of Transportation, so as to prevent the feet of employees from being caught in the tracks. Any railroad corporation failing to do so shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

5. Method of heating cars approved. No passenger, mail or baggage car on any railroad in the State may be heated by any method of heating or by any furnace or heater, unless the method or the use of a furnace or heater shall first have been approved in writing by the Commissioner of Transportation. In no event may a common stove be allowed in any car. Any railroad corporation may, with the permission of the commissioner, make any experiment in heating its passenger cars as the commissioner may deem proper. Any railroad corporation violating any provision of this subsection forfeits not more than $500.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

6. Head and rear lights on cars. Every person, firm or corporation operating or controlling any railroad running through or within the State shall equip each of its track motor cars used during the period from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise with a headlight of construction and with sufficient candle power to render plainly visible at a distance of not less than 300 feet in advance of the track motor car, any track obstruction, landmark, warning sign or grade crossing, and shall equip the track motor car with a red rear light of construction and with sufficient candle power as to be plainly visible at a distance of at least 300 feet. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation operating or controlling any railroad running through or within this State to operate or use any track motor car from 30 minutes before sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise, which is not equipped with lights of the candle power, construction and utility described in this subsection.

Any person, firm or corporation operating or controlling any railroad running through or within this State using or permitting to be used on its line in this State a track motor car in violation of this subsection shall be liable to a penalty of $100 for each violation, to be recovered in a suit or suits to be brought by the district attorney in the Superior Court of the county having jurisdiction in the locality where the violation occurred. On duly verified information being given of the violation, the district attorney shall bring the suits.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

7. Safety switches and switch lights at every siding. Every railroad company running trains in this State shall place safety switches of an approved sort at every siding connecting with the main track. Switch lights shall be maintained in addition to switch targets with a reflective type surface or with an adequate reflector throughout that portion of every railroad where trains are run after dark. The commissioner shall have authority to relieve any railroad from the requirements of this subsection as to maintaining switch lights and reflectorized targets, on proper petition, after notice and hearing, and for good cause shown, to the extent that the commissioner deems consistent with public safety.

This subsection shall not apply to areas of the railroad controlled by block signals.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

8. Speed at crossings; signals to warn approaching trains. When one railroad crosses another on the same grade, every engineman on both, when approaching the point of intersection with an engine with or without a train, shall stop the engine within 500 feet of the point and before reaching it and shall pass it at a rate not exceeding 8 miles an hour, except when, from the condition of the track or train, it shall be necessary to run at greater speed. In that case, the conductor or person in charge of the train shall station some person at the crossing, with a flag by day and a lantern by night, to warn trains approaching on the other road. When 2 or more crossings on the same road are within 400 feet of each other, one stop is sufficient. Any engineman, conductor or person in charge of the train violating this provision forfeits, for each offense, $100, and the corporation on whose road the offense is committed forfeits $200.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

9. Signals at crossings; signals for approaching trains; preference to passenger trains. When railroads cross each other at grade, the parties operating the railroad last located there shall build and maintain a suitable signal station at the crossing, at which a competent signal officer shall be kept at the joint expense of the parties operating the railroads. The signal shall not be set for a train to cross until the engine of the train shall have arrived within 500 feet of the intersection and stopped. No train or engine may cross the track of the other road until the proper signal for it to cross shall have been set in position by the signal officer. Only one train or engine shall be allowed to cross under one setting of the signal unless coming from opposite directions on the same railroad. When the signal has been set for the trains on one of the railroads, it shall not be changed until those trains shall have passed entirely over the crossing. When trains on both railroads approach the crossing at about the same time, preference shall be given to passenger trains and the signal shall be set for the trains on each road in alternate order.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

10. Automatic signals; exemptions. The Commissioner of Transportation may, on the application of any railroad whose road crosses another railroad at the same level, after due notice and hearing of the parties, authorize the applicant to establish and maintain a system of interlocking or automatic signals at any crossing of the roads, at its own expense, and erect and maintain the necessary wires, rods, signal posts and signals in a manner as the commissioner shall prescribe. When the system is established and has been approved in writing by the commissioner, the corporation establishing the system and its railroad shall be excepted, as to that crossing, from subsections 8 and 9.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

11. Sharing of signal cost by nonparticipating railroad; exemption. Whenever, after establishment and approval of the system of signals, the nonparticipating railroad under subsection 10 shall have paid the applicant railroad a part of the cost of establishing the system of signals as shall be awarded by the Commissioner of Transportation after hearing on petition of the nonparticipating railroad, both railroads shall be excepted as to that crossing from subsections 8 and 9, as provided in subsection 10. Until payment is made, the nonparticipating railroad shall contribute toward the expense of operating the signals, in semiannual payments, a sum equal to the cost to it of operating the signals used by it at the crossing before the establishment of the signals provided for in subsection 10. After payment of the award, the expense of maintaining and operating the system of signals shall be borne by the 2 railroad corporations according to the proportions fixed by the award for paying the original cost of the signals, and the award, so far as it relates to the cost of maintaining and operating the signals, may, at the request of either party, be revised after an interval of 5 years from the original award or from the award next preceding the request.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

12. Diesels or diesel-electric may not operate in reverse or backup position. No railroad corporation operating diesel or diesel-electric locomotives in the State may be permitted to operate such locomotives in reverse or backup position on any passenger or freight train on any main line or branch line, except any locomotives may be operated in reverse in emergencies, while doing switching operations, while operating turn-around service, and except where no facilities are available for turning the locomotives at the point of departure. Any railroad corporation violating this subsection shall be punished by a fine of $100 for each violation.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

13. Illuminated switching leads. In order to provide maximum safety to train and yard service employees, who are required to work on or about moving railroad freight equipment, all railroad companies operating in the State shall have all switching leads in yards, where frequent switching service is normally performed, reasonably and adequately illuminated during the hours of darkness. This subsection shall be subject to rules promulgated by the Commissioner of Transportation.

[ 1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW) .]

SECTION HISTORY

1989, c. 398, §9 (NEW).