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1 | AN ACT in regard to vehicles.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | |||||||||||||||||||
3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing
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5 | Section 18c-7402 as follows:
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6 | (625 ILCS 5/18c-7402) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 18c-7402)
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7 | Sec. 18c-7402. Safety Requirements for Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | Operations.
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9 | (1) Obstruction of Crossings.
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10 | (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 the
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13 | such obstruction occurs 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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22 | immediately notify the train crew through use of
existing | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | communication facilities. Upon notification,
the train | |||||||||||||||||||
24 | crew shall take immediate action in accordance
with this | |||||||||||||||||||
25 | paragraph.
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26 | (b) Obstruction of Highway at Grade Crossing | |||||||||||||||||||
27 | Prohibited.
It is unlawful for a rail carrier to permit any | |||||||||||||||||||
28 | train,
railroad car or engine to obstruct public travel at | |||||||||||||||||||
29 | a
railroad-highway grade crossing for a period in excess
of | |||||||||||||||||||
30 | 10 minutes, except where such train or railroad car
is | |||||||||||||||||||
31 | continuously moving or cannot be moved by reason of
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32 | circumstances over which the rail carrier has no
reasonable |
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1 | control.
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2 | In a county with a population of greater than 1,000,000, as | ||||||
3 | determined by
the most recent federal census, during the
hours | ||||||
4 | of 7:00 a.m. through 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. through 6:00 p.m. | ||||||
5 | it is
unlawful for a rail carrier to permit any single train or | ||||||
6 | railroad car to
obstruct
public travel at a railroad-highway | ||||||
7 | grade crossing in excess of a total of 10
minutes during a 30 | ||||||
8 | minute period, except where the train or railroad
car
cannot be | ||||||
9 | moved by reason or circumstances over which the rail carrier | ||||||
10 | has no
reasonable control. Under no circumstances will a moving | ||||||
11 | train be stopped for
the purposes of
issuing a citation related | ||||||
12 | to this Section.
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13 | However, no employee acting under the rules or orders of | ||||||
14 | the rail carrier or
its supervisory personnel may be prosecuted | ||||||
15 | for a violation of this
subsection (b).
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16 | (c) Punishment for Obstruction of Grade Crossing.
Any | ||||||
17 | rail carrier violating paragraph (b) of this
subsection | ||||||
18 | shall be guilty of a petty offense and fined
not less than | ||||||
19 | $200 nor more than $500 if the duration of
the obstruction | ||||||
20 | is in excess of 10 minutes but no longer
than 15 minutes. | ||||||
21 | If the duration of the obstruction
exceeds 15 minutes the | ||||||
22 | violation shall be a business
offense and the following | ||||||
23 | fines shall be imposed: if
the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
24 | is in excess of 15
minutes but no longer than 20 minutes, | ||||||
25 | the fine shall be
$500; if the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
26 | is in excess of
20 minutes but no longer than 25 minutes, | ||||||
27 | the fine shall
be $700; if the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
28 | is in excess
of 25 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes, | ||||||
29 | the fine
shall be $900; if the duration of the obstruction | ||||||
30 | is in
excess of 30 minutes but no longer than 35 minutes, | ||||||
31 | the
fine shall be $1,000; if the duration of the | ||||||
32 | obstruction
is in excess of 35 minutes, the fine shall be | ||||||
33 | $1,000
plus an additional $500 for each 5 minutes of
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34 | obstruction in excess of 25 minutes of obstruction.
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35 | (2) Other Operational Requirements.
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36 | (a) Bell and Whistle-Crossings.
Every rail carrier |
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1 | shall cause a bell, and a whistle or
horn to be placed and | ||||||
2 | kept on each locomotive, and shall
cause the same to be | ||||||
3 | rung or sounded by the engineer or
fireman, at the distance | ||||||
4 | of a least 1,320 feet, from the
place where the railroad | ||||||
5 | crosses or intersects any
public highway, and shall be kept | ||||||
6 | ringing or sounding
until the highway is reached; provided | ||||||
7 | that at crossings
where the Commission shall by order | ||||||
8 | direct, only after a hearing has been
held to determine the | ||||||
9 | public is reasonably and sufficiently protected, the rail
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10 | carrier may be excused from giving warning provided by
this | ||||||
11 | paragraph.
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12 | (a-5) The requirements of paragraph (a) of this
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13 | subsection (2) regarding ringing a bell and sounding a
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14 | whistle or horn do not apply at a railroad crossing that
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15 | has a permanently installed automated audible warning
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16 | device authorized by the Commission under Section
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17 | 18c-7402.1 that sounds automatically when an approaching
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18 | train is at least 1,320 feet from the crossing and that
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19 | keeps sounding until the lead locomotive has crossed the
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20 | highway. The engineer or fireman may ring the bell or
sound | ||||||
21 | the whistle or horn at a railroad crossing that has a
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22 | permanently installed audible warning device.
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23 | (b) Speed Limits.
Each rail carrier shall operate its | ||||||
24 | trains in compliance
with speed limits set by the | ||||||
25 | Commission. The Commission
may set train speed limits only | ||||||
26 | where such limits are
necessitated by extraordinary | ||||||
27 | circumstances effecting
the public safety, and shall | ||||||
28 | maintain such train speed
limits in effect only for such | ||||||
29 | time as the extraordinary
circumstances prevail.
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30 | The Commission and the Department of Transportation | ||||||
31 | shall conduct a study
of the relation between train speeds | ||||||
32 | and railroad-highway grade crossing
safety. The Commission | ||||||
33 | shall report the findings of the study to the General
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34 | Assembly no later than January 5, 1997.
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35 | (c) Special Speed Limit; Pilot Project. The Commission | ||||||
36 | and the
Board of the Commuter Rail Division of the Regional |
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1 | Transportation Authority
shall conduct a pilot project in | ||||||
2 | the Village of
Fox River Grove, the site of the
fatal | ||||||
3 | school bus accident at a railroad crossing
on October 25, | ||||||
4 | 1995, in order to improve railroad crossing safety. For | ||||||
5 | this
project, the Commission is directed to set the maximum | ||||||
6 | train speed limit for
Regional Transportation Authority | ||||||
7 | trains at 50 miles per hour at intersections
on
that | ||||||
8 | portion of
the intrastate rail line located in the Village | ||||||
9 | of Fox River Grove.
If the Regional Transportation | ||||||
10 | Authority deliberately fails to comply with this
maximum | ||||||
11 | speed
limit, then any entity, governmental or otherwise, | ||||||
12 | that provides capital or
operational funds to the Regional | ||||||
13 | Transportation
Authority shall appropriately reduce or | ||||||
14 | eliminate that funding.
The Commission shall report
to the | ||||||
15 | Governor and the General Assembly on the results of this | ||||||
16 | pilot
project in January
1999, January 2000, and January | ||||||
17 | 2001. The Commission shall also submit a final
report on | ||||||
18 | the pilot project to the Governor and the General Assembly | ||||||
19 | in January
2001. The provisions of this
subsection (c), | ||||||
20 | other than this sentence, are inoperative after February 1,
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21 | 2001.
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22 | (3) Report and Investigation of Rail Accidents.
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23 | (a) Reports.
Every rail carrier shall report to the | ||||||
24 | Commission, by
the speediest means possible, whether | ||||||
25 | telephone,
telegraph, or otherwise, every accident | ||||||
26 | involving its
equipment, track, or other property which | ||||||
27 | resulted in
loss of life to any person. In addition, such | ||||||
28 | carriers
shall file a written report with the Commission.
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29 | Reports submitted under this paragraph shall be strictly
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30 | confidential, shall be specifically prohibited from
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31 | disclosure, and shall not be admissible in any
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32 | administrative or judicial proceeding relating to the
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33 | accidents reported.
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34 | (b) Investigations.
The Commission may investigate all | ||||||
35 | railroad accidents
reported to it or of which it acquires | ||||||
36 | knowledge
independent of reports made by rail carriers, and |
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1 | shall
have the power, consistent with standards and
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2 | procedures established under the Federal Railroad Safety | ||||||
3 | Act, as amended, to
enter such
temporary orders as will | ||||||
4 | minimize the risk of future accidents pending notice,
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5 | hearing, and final action by the Commission.
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6 | (Source: P.A. 91-675, eff. 6-1-00; 92-284, eff. 8-9-01.)
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