Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Haider
SYNOPSIS
Provides certain requirements concerning railroad safety.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning railroad safety and supplementing Title 27 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
Board means the Board of Public Utilities.
Branch line means a secondary railroad track that branches off from a main line.
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Transportation.
Dangerous hazardous train means any railroad locomotive propelling a railroad tank car or connection of railroad tank cars transporting 200,000 gallons or more of petroleum or petroleum products or 20,000 gallons or more of hazardous substances other than petroleum or petroleum products.
Defects include, but are not limited to, hot wheel bearings, hot wheels, defective bearings that are detected through acoustics, dragging equipment, excessive height or weight, shifted loads, low hoses, rail temperature, and wheel conditions.
Department means the Department of Transportation.
Emergency services provider means a law enforcement agency; emergency medical services unit; fire department; emergency communications provider; hazardous material response unit; volunteer fire department; duly incorporated fire or first aid company; or volunteer emergency, ambulance, or rescue squad association, organization, or company that provides emergency services for a local unit.
Hazardous substances means any Class 1 explosives as categorized in Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3, as such terms are defined in 49 C.F.R. s.173.50; any flammable gases as defined in 49 C.F.R. s.173.115(a); any flammable liquids as defined in 49 C.F.R. s.173.120(a); any hazardous material as designated by the Secretary of Transportation as hazardous pursuant to 49 U.S.C. s.5103; any high level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel with the same meanings given to a type B package or a fissile material package as defined in 49 C.F.R. s.173.403; any material poisonous by inhalation or material toxic by inhalation as defined in 49 C.F.R. s.171.8; and any environmentally sensitive chemicals which shall include, but not be limited to:
a. AllylChloride;
b. Carbon Tetrachloride;
c. Chlorobenzene;
d. Chloroform;
e. O-Dichlorobenzene;
f. Dichloropropane (Propylene dichloride);
g. Dichloropropane/Dichloropropene mixture;
h. Dichloropropene;
i. Ethyl Chloride;
j. Ethylene Dibromide;
k. Ethylene Dibromide and Methyl Bromide mixtures;
l. Ethylene Dichloride;
m. Epichlorohydrin;
n. Methyl Chloroform (1,1,1 Trichloroethane);
o. Methylene Chloride (Dichloromethane);
p. Methylene Chloride/Chloroform mixture;
q. Perchloroethylene (Tetrachloroethylene);
r. Perchloroethylene/Trichloroethylene mixture; and
s. Trichloroethylene.
Local unit means any county or municipality, or a fire district, or an agency or other instrumentality thereof, or a duly incorporated volunteer fire, ambulance, first aid, emergency, or rescue company or squad.
Main line means a Class I railroad, as documented in current timetables filed by the Class I railroad with the Federal Railroad Administration, over which 5,000,000 or more gross tons of railroad traffic is transported annually. Main line includes railroads used for regularly scheduled intercity or commuter rail passenger service, or both.
Major facility shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 3 of P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b).
Owner or operator means, with respect to any dangerous hazardous train, any person owning the dangerous hazardous train or operating it by lease, contract, or other form of agreement; provided, however, that the owner or operator shall not mean a person who operates a dangerous hazardous train only for the purposes of positioning or moving railroad tank cars within the confines of a major facility or a person whose interest in a dangerous hazardous train solely involves the ownership or lease of one or more railroad tank cars without operational authority.
Petroleum or petroleum products shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 3 of P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b).
Railroad means any form of non-highway ground transportation that runs on rails or electromagnetic guideways, including commuter or other short-haul railroad passenger service in a metropolitan or suburban area, commuter railroad service and high speed ground transportation systems that connect metropolitan areas, without regard to whether those systems use new technologies not associated with traditional railroads. Railroad does not include rapid transit operations in an urban area that are not connected to the general railroad system of transportation.
Short line means an independent railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance.
Train means one or more locomotives coupled with or without cars, requiring an air brake test in accordance with either 49 C.F.R. Part 232 or 49 C.F.R. Part 238, except during switching operations or where the operation is that of classifying and assembling rail cars within a railroad yard for the purpose of making or breaking up trains. Train includes a single locomotive, multiple locomotives coupled together, and one or more locomotives coupled with one or more cars.
Wayside detector system means an electronic device or a series of connected devices that scan passing trains, rolling stock, on-track equipment, and their component equipment and parts for defects.
2. a. The owner or operator of a dangerous hazardous train shall require a minimum of two crew members on all dangerous hazardous trains. The owner or operator of a dangerous hazardous train shall further require that all dangerous hazardous trains clearly display the name of the railroad company that owns the dangerous hazardous train.
b. The owner or operator of a dangerous hazardous train shall not be required to provide a minimum of two crew members on a dangerous hazardous train if:
(1) the train is using a locomotive or a group of locomotives to