Full Text of HB1317 095th General Assembly
HB1317 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 HB1317
Introduced 2/20/2007, by Rep. Jay C. Hoffman SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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625 ILCS 5/18c-7402 |
from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 18c-7402 |
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Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Makes a technical change in a Section
concerning railroad safety.
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A BILL FOR
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HB1317 |
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LRB095 10291 DRH 30506 b |
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| AN ACT concerning transportation.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing | 5 |
| Section 18c-7402 as follows:
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| (625 ILCS 5/18c-7402) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 18c-7402)
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| Sec. 18c-7402. Safety Requirements for Railroad | 8 |
| Operations.
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| (1) Obstruction of Crossings.
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| (a) Obstruction of Emergency Vehicles.
Every railroad | 11 |
| shall be operated in such a manner as to
minimize | 12 |
| obstruction of emergency vehicles at crossings.
Where such | 13 |
| obstruction occurs and
and the train crew is
aware of the | 14 |
| obstruction, the train crew shall
immediately take any | 15 |
| action, consistent with safe
operating procedure, | 16 |
| necessary to remove the
obstruction. In the Chicago and St. | 17 |
| Louis switching
districts, every railroad dispatcher or | 18 |
| other person
responsible for the movement of railroad | 19 |
| equipment in a
specific area who receives notification that | 20 |
| railroad
equipment is obstructing the movement of an | 21 |
| emergency
vehicle at any crossing within such area shall
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| immediately notify the train crew through use of
existing | 23 |
| communication facilities. Upon notification,
the train |
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LRB095 10291 DRH 30506 b |
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| crew shall take immediate action in accordance
with this | 2 |
| paragraph.
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| (b) Obstruction of Highway at Grade Crossing | 4 |
| Prohibited.
It is unlawful for a rail carrier to permit any | 5 |
| train,
railroad car or engine to obstruct public travel at | 6 |
| a
railroad-highway grade crossing for a period in excess
of | 7 |
| 10 minutes, except where such train or railroad car
is | 8 |
| continuously moving or cannot be moved by reason of
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| circumstances over which the rail carrier has no
reasonable | 10 |
| control.
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| In a county with a population of greater than 1,000,000, as | 12 |
| determined by
the most recent federal census, during the
hours | 13 |
| of 7:00 a.m. through 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. through 6:00 p.m. | 14 |
| it is
unlawful for a rail carrier to permit any single train or | 15 |
| railroad car to
obstruct
public travel at a railroad-highway | 16 |
| grade crossing in excess of a total of 10
minutes during a 30 | 17 |
| minute period, except where the train or railroad
car
cannot be | 18 |
| moved by reason or circumstances over which the rail carrier | 19 |
| has no
reasonable control. Under no circumstances will a moving | 20 |
| train be stopped for
the purposes of
issuing a citation related | 21 |
| to this Section.
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| However, no employee acting under the rules or orders of | 23 |
| the rail carrier or
its supervisory personnel may be prosecuted | 24 |
| for a violation of this
subsection (b).
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| (c) Punishment for Obstruction of Grade Crossing.
Any | 26 |
| rail carrier violating paragraph (b) of this
subsection |
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| shall be guilty of a petty offense and fined
not less than | 2 |
| $200 nor more than $500 if the duration of
the obstruction | 3 |
| is in excess of 10 minutes but no longer
than 15 minutes. | 4 |
| If the duration of the obstruction
exceeds 15 minutes the | 5 |
| violation shall be a business
offense and the following | 6 |
| fines shall be imposed: if
the duration of the obstruction | 7 |
| is in excess of 15
minutes but no longer than 20 minutes, | 8 |
| the fine shall be
$500; if the duration of the obstruction | 9 |
| is in excess of
20 minutes but no longer than 25 minutes, | 10 |
| the fine shall
be $700; if the duration of the obstruction | 11 |
| is in excess
of 25 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes, | 12 |
| the fine
shall be $900; if the duration of the obstruction | 13 |
| is in
excess of 30 minutes but no longer than 35 minutes, | 14 |
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fine shall be $1,000; if the duration of the | 15 |
| obstruction
is in excess of 35 minutes, the fine shall be | 16 |
| $1,000
plus an additional $500 for each 5 minutes of
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| obstruction in excess of 25 minutes of obstruction.
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| (2) Other Operational Requirements.
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| (a) Bell and Whistle-Crossings.
Every rail carrier | 20 |
| shall cause a bell, and a whistle or
horn to be placed and | 21 |
| kept on each locomotive, and shall
cause the same to be | 22 |
| rung or sounded by the engineer or
fireman, at the distance | 23 |
| of a least 1,320 feet, from the
place where the railroad | 24 |
| crosses or intersects any
public highway, and shall be kept | 25 |
| ringing or sounding
until the highway is reached; provided | 26 |
| that at crossings
where the Commission shall by order |
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| direct, only after a hearing has been
held to determine the | 2 |
| public is reasonably and sufficiently protected, the rail
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| carrier may be excused from giving warning provided by
this | 4 |
| paragraph.
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| (a-5) The requirements of paragraph (a) of this
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| subsection (2) regarding ringing a bell and sounding a
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| whistle or horn do not apply at a railroad crossing that
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| has a permanently installed automated audible warning
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| device authorized by the Commission under Section
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| 18c-7402.1 that sounds automatically when an approaching
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| train is at least 1,320 feet from the crossing and that
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| keeps sounding until the lead locomotive has crossed the
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| highway. The engineer or fireman may ring the bell or
sound | 14 |
| the whistle or horn at a railroad crossing that has a
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| permanently installed audible warning device.
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| (b) Speed Limits.
Each rail carrier shall operate its | 17 |
| trains in compliance
with speed limits set by the | 18 |
| Commission. The Commission
may set train speed limits only | 19 |
| where such limits are
necessitated by extraordinary | 20 |
| circumstances effecting
the public safety, and shall | 21 |
| maintain such train speed
limits in effect only for such | 22 |
| time as the extraordinary
circumstances prevail.
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| The Commission and the Department of Transportation | 24 |
| shall conduct a study
of the relation between train speeds | 25 |
| and railroad-highway grade crossing
safety. The Commission | 26 |
| shall report the findings of the study to the General
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| Assembly no later than January 5, 1997.
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| (c) Special Speed Limit; Pilot Project. The Commission | 3 |
| and the
Board of the Commuter Rail Division of the Regional | 4 |
| Transportation Authority
shall conduct a pilot project in | 5 |
| the Village of
Fox River Grove, the site of the
fatal | 6 |
| school bus accident at a railroad crossing
on October 25, | 7 |
| 1995, in order to improve railroad crossing safety. For | 8 |
| this
project, the Commission is directed to set the maximum | 9 |
| train speed limit for
Regional Transportation Authority | 10 |
| trains at 50 miles per hour at intersections
on
that | 11 |
| portion of
the intrastate rail line located in the Village | 12 |
| of Fox River Grove.
If the Regional Transportation | 13 |
| Authority deliberately fails to comply with this
maximum | 14 |
| speed
limit, then any entity, governmental or otherwise, | 15 |
| that provides capital or
operational funds to the Regional | 16 |
| Transportation
Authority shall appropriately reduce or | 17 |
| eliminate that funding.
The Commission shall report
to the | 18 |
| Governor and the General Assembly on the results of this | 19 |
| pilot
project in January
1999, January 2000, and January | 20 |
| 2001. The Commission shall also submit a final
report on | 21 |
| the pilot project to the Governor and the General Assembly | 22 |
| in January
2001. The provisions of this
subsection (c), | 23 |
| other than this sentence, are inoperative after February 1,
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| 2001.
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| (3) Report and Investigation of Rail Accidents.
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| (a) Reports.
Every rail carrier shall report to the |
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| Commission, by
the speediest means possible, whether | 2 |
| telephone,
telegraph, or otherwise, every accident | 3 |
| involving its
equipment, track, or other property which | 4 |
| resulted in
loss of life to any person. In addition, such | 5 |
| carriers
shall file a written report with the Commission.
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| Reports submitted under this paragraph shall be strictly
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| confidential, shall be specifically prohibited from
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| disclosure, and shall not be admissible in any
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| administrative or judicial proceeding relating to the
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| accidents reported.
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| (b) Investigations.
The Commission may investigate all | 12 |
| railroad accidents
reported to it or of which it acquires | 13 |
| knowledge
independent of reports made by rail carriers, and | 14 |
| shall
have the power, consistent with standards and
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| procedures established under the Federal Railroad Safety | 16 |
| Act, as amended, to
enter such
temporary orders as will | 17 |
| minimize the risk of future accidents pending notice,
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| hearing, and final action by the Commission.
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| (Source: P.A. 91-675, eff. 6-1-00; 92-284, eff. 8-9-01.)
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