NEXT STOP: SENATE
House advances stopped trains measure
The state House passed a bill that would fine train operators for extended delays
A bill that would allow law officers to cite railroads that block track-road intersections for longer than 10 minutes without good reason has left the station.
Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 92 to 5 Wednesday to send House Bill 2472, authored by House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and co-authored by Reps. Tommy Hardin, R-Madill, and Kyle Hilbert, R-Depew, to the Senate for consideration.
The bill includes current Oklahoma Corporation Commission rules railroads are expected to follow, but adds the potential for fines of up to $10,000 per occurrence that could be written by local police, sheriff's deputies or highway patrol troopers when violations of that time limit happen.
The issue bot hers Oklahoma motorists. A spokesman for the Corporation Commission has said that agency received 224 blocked crossing complaints in 2018, alone.
Both the proposed law and existing rules direct railroads operating in Oklahoma to avoid blocking a track-road intersection with a stopped train for longer than 10 minutes.
The rules and the proposed law would waive that limit, however, if the train were stopped because of an accident, derailment, critical mechanical failure, a washout of track or bridge or other emergency condition or order.
A railroad operator also would be granted a one-time exception of up to 10 additional minutes if a train and its crew, operating under the rules of the Federal Railroad Administration, couldn't complete a switching maneuver to subtract or add rail cars to a train's consist any quicker.
Plus, that limit would be waived if a stopped train that was blocking an intersection had been halted to allow passage of a second train that was momentarily expected.
In cases where multiple intersections were blocked, the time limit would be waived if the operator separated the train's consist to allow for passage of vehicles across the tracks at one intersection, even though others might remain blocked.
The proposed law also wouldn't impose that time limit on railroads with onsite charging stations while an operator conducted federally required air brake system tests after recoupling a consist that had been separated to open an intersection.
Both rules and the proposed law include language that requires railroad operators to minimize obstructions for emergency vehicles, where possible.
State Rep. Hilbert presented the bill Wednesday on the House floor, where it was approved.
Previously, Speaker McCall told members of the House's Transportation Committee stopped trains were a common concern among his constituents.
“We want economic development and commerce in our state,” he had said, “but this has risen to a level to where we have to put forth a legislative solution.”
The Senate co-author is Sen. Frank Simpson, R-Springer.