Railroads: safety: wayside detectors.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary text specifies that penalties must be at least $25,000 but does not provide an upper limit. The exact amount of penalties is left to the Public Utilities Commission's discretion.

Railroad Safety: Wayside Detectors

This law requires railroad companies to install and use wayside detector systems on tracks used by freight trains, with penalties for violations.

What This Bill Does

• Requires railroad companies to install and operate a network of wayside detector systems along tracks used by freight trains.
• Each wayside detector system must include a hot wheel bearing detector.
• Railroad companies need to submit a response plan to the Public Utilities Commission regarding issues detected by the systems.
• The Public Utilities Commission needs to create rules and processes for enforcing these requirements, including penalties of at least $25,000 for violations.
• Exempts certain small railroad carriers with speed limits of 10 miles per hour or less from following these rules.

Who It Names or Affects

• Railroad companies that operate freight trains
• The Public Utilities Commission

Terms To Know

wayside detector system

An electronic device or series of connected devices that scans passing freight trains and their component equipment and parts for defects.

Limits and Unknowns

• This bill does not apply to small railroad carriers with speed limits of 10 miles per hour or less.
• The exact penalties and enforcement details are left up to the Public Utilities Commission to decide.

Official Summary Text

SB 667, as amended, Archuleta.
Railroads: safety: wayside detectors.
The existing Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA) authorizes the United States Secretary of Transportation to prescribe regulations and issue orders for railroad safety and requires the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, when prescribing a security regulation or issuing a security order that affects the safety of railroad operations, to consult with the United States Secretary of Transportation. The FRSA provides for state participation in the enforcement of the safety regulations and orders issued by the United States Secretary of Transportation or the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, pursuant to an annual certification, and authorizes the respective secretaries to make an agreement with a state to provide investigative and surveillance activities. The FRSA provides that, to the extent practicable, laws, regulations, and orders related to railroad safety and
security are required to be nationally uniform, but authorizes a state to adopt or continue in force a law, regulation, or order related to railroad safety or security until the United States Secretary of Transportation, with respect to railroad safety matters, or the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, with respect to railroad security matters, prescribes a regulation or issues an order covering the subject matter of the state requirement. A state is additionally authorized to adopt or continue in force an additional or more stringent law, regulation, or order related to railroad safety or security, when necessary to eliminate or reduce an essentially local safety or security hazard, that is not incompatible with a federal law, regulation, or order, and that does not unreasonably burden interstate commerce.
This bill would require a railroad corporation to install and operate a network of wayside detector systems on or adjacent to any track used by a
freight
train with
train, require that each wayside detector system include a hot wheel bearing detector, and prescribe the
maximum spacing
specified
for individual detection devices along a continuous track. The bill would define “wayside detector system” to mean an electronic device or series of connected devices that scans passing freight trains and their component equipment and parts for defects.
The bill would require a railroad corporation to submit a wayside detector response plan to the Public Utilities Commission, as provided.
The bill would require the
commission
Public Utilities Commission
to adopt rules
necessary
and processes
to implement these
provisions
provisions,
including
establishing
a penalty of not less than
$25,000,
$25,000 for violating these provisions,
as provided. The bill would
provide that these provisions do
not apply to a class II or class III carrier that has a speed limit of 10 miles per hour or less.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF