SB 676 — High-speed Passenger Rail Safety

Such rules must include minimum standards or criteria for:

1. Public railroad-highway grade crossing design, including, but not limited to, installation of appropriate safety equipment, such as remote health monitoring and traffic signal preemption systems;

2. Implementation of sealed corridors and of safety measures to be used at sealed corridors;

3. Installation or realignment of crossing gates at severely skewed, acute-angled public railroad-highway grade crossings along the rail corridor;

and 4. Field surveys of the rail corridor to be conducted for the purpose of identifying areas where fencing is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public, including, but not limited to, minimum requirements for construction and materials.

(2) The department may impose on a railroad company an administrative penalty not exceeding $10,000 for each violation of the rules adopted by the department as provided in this section.

Each violation constitutes a separate violation.

(2) The department shall annually publish on its website a compendium of the reports that include any fatalities, injuries, or accidents during the reporting timeframe which occurred within a rail corridor where a high-speed passenger rail system operates.operates, unless notified by the Federal Government that the compendium is inconsistent with federal requirements.

(3) A railroad company that transports liquefied natural gas on the same tracks, or within the same rail corridor, used by a high-speed passenger rail system within thethis state shall submit an annual report to the department containing:containing the size of the average and largest liquefied natural gas train, as measured in metric tons, operated in this state by the railroad company in the previous calendar year.

(a) All insurance carried by the railroad company which covers any losses resulting from a reasonable worst-case unplanned release of liquefied natural gas.

(b) Coverage amounts, limitations, and other conditions of such insurance.

(c) The size of the average and largest liquefied natural gas train, as measured in metric tons, operated in the state by the railroad company in the previous calendar year.

(d) Information sufficient to demonstrate the railroad company’s ability to remediate a reasonable worst-case unplanned release of liquefied natural gas, including, but not limited to, insurance coverage, reserve accounts, letters of credit, or other financial instruments or resources on which the company can rely for such remediation.

341.608 Minimum safety standards for high-speed passenger rail systems.—systems.—In (1) In addition to complying with federal lawlaw, and with Federal Railroad Administration regulations, and other applicable federal regulations, a railroad company operating a high-speed passenger rail system shall installcomply safetywith equipmentthe thatrules hasadopted been approved by the Federaldepartment Railroadpursuant Administrationto ands. include, at a minimum, positive train control systems as provided in 49 C.F.R.

part341.605. 236.

(2) Before operating a high-speed passenger rail system, a railroad company shall also:

(a) Install or realign crossing gates, including those at severely skewed, acute-angled locations as identified by either the department or the Federal Railroad Administration, so that the gates are parallel to the tracks and in accordance with the most recent edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices published by the Federal Highway Administration and adopted by the department pursuant to s.

316.0745.

(b) Equip all automatic public railroad-highway grade crossing warning systems with remote health monitoring technology capable of constantly monitoring the highway-railroad crossing to:

1. Detect false activations;

2. Detect other crossing signal malfunctions;

and 3. Notify the train dispatcher and railroad maintenance personnel whenever such a malfunction is detected.

(c) Construct and maintain fencing in accordance with s.

341.611.

(3)(a) Sealed corridors must be required at any at-grade crossing where a high-speed passenger rail system operates on tracks that are also used to transport hazardous materials, regardless of the speed at which the high-speed passenger rail system is operating on such at-grade crossing.

(b) Safety measures that must be used at a sealed corridor include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. A four-quadrant gate system with separate pedestrian crossing gates on the two-way streets;

2. Gate arms extending across all lanes of travel on paired one-way streets;

and 3. Median arrangements.

341.609 Maintenance and repair of roadbeds, tracks, culverts, and certain streets and sidewalks.— (1) If the railroad company that constructs or operates a high-speed passenger rail system is required to install safety improvements that modify the width of a roadbed, the company is responsible for ensuring that the impacted roadbed meets the department’s transition requirements as set forth in the most recent edition of the department’s Design Standards and the Manual of Uniform Minimum Standards for Design, ConstructionConstruction, and Maintenance for Streets and Highways.

(2) This section doesmay not be construed to impair any existing contractual agreements between a railroad company operating a high-speed passenger rail system and a governmental entity within the state.

341.6101 Safety inspections and inspectors.— (1) In accordance with the State Rail Safety Participation Program, which is designed to promote safety in all areas of railroad operations to reduce deaths, injuries, and damage to railroad property, the department’s railroad inspectors must be certified by the Federal Railroad Administration and shall coordinate their activities with those of federal inspectors in thethis state in compliance with 49 C.F.R.

The department mustshall make these reports available on its website for the public to access.

341.611 Fencing341.611 Severability.—If andany separationprovision requirementsof tothis protectact theor public.—its (1) Theapplication departmentto shallany adoptperson byor rulecircumstance standardsis toheld beinvalid, usedthe byinvalidity thedoes departmentnot inaffect conductingother fieldprovisions surveysor applications of this act which can be given effect without the railinvalid corridorprovision beingor usedapplication, byand ato high-speedthis passengerend, railthe system.provisions of this act are severable.

TheSection field12. Sections surveys341.601-341.611 mustare indicateremedial areasin wherenature fencing is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfareshall ofapply theretroactively. public.

(2) AtSection a13. This minimum,act theshall fieldtake surveyseffect mustJuly identify1, pedestrian2020. traffic generators, such as nearby schools and parks, and signs of current pedestrian traffic that crosses the railroad tracks.

The department shall hold at least one public meeting in each community in which new or substantially modified fencing is proposed before designs and plans for such fencing are finalized.

(3) Once it has been determined that a fence is necessary, a railroad company operating a high-speed passenger rail system shall construct and maintain the fence on both sides of its railroad tracks in a manner sufficient to prevent intrusion.

The fencing must be:

(a) Placed 1 foot inside the edge of the railroad company’s right-of-way.

(b) At least 4 1/2 feet in height.

Ornamental fencing must be used within urban areas.

Chain-link fencing may be used in locations outside of urban areas.

(c) Maintained by the railroad company operating a high speed passenger rail system, unless a governmental entity has contractually consented to undertake the responsibility for maintaining the fence within its jurisdiction.

(4) If a railroad company operating a high-speed passenger rail system does not construct or maintain a fence as required under subsection (3), the railroad company is liable for all damages arising from its failure to construct or maintain such fence unless another entity is responsible for maintenance as provided by paragraph (3)(c).

Section 12. Section 341.612, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

341.612 Enforcement.—Jurisdiction to enforce ss.

341.601 341.613 is as provided in s.

316.640, and any penalty for a violation of ss.

341.601-341.613 must be imposed upon the railroad company that commits such violation.

Section 13. Section 341.613, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

341.613 Severability.—If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable.

Section 14. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.