National Academies Press: OpenBook

Railroad Legal Issues and Resources (2015)

Chapter: XVI. Demonstration Projects or Programs

« Previous: XV. Damage to or Maintenance of Property
Page 63
Suggested Citation:"XVI. Demonstration Projects or Programs." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. Railroad Legal Issues and Resources. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22093.
×
Page 63

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

63 flooding of their adjacent property. The Tenth Circuit held that the ICCTA did not expressly preempt their state tort claims, but on remand the district court would have to determine whether allowing a remedy for the injury would interfere with railroad transportation.278 5. Claim for Gas and Smoke Caused by a Railroad Tunnel 407 In Richards v. Washington Terminal Company,279 arising out of a railroad company’s construction of a tunnel and tracks near but not adjoining the plaintiff’s home, the Supreme Court held that gas and smoke directed toward and into the plaintiff’s house constituted a private nuisance for which the landowner could recover damages. XVI. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS OR PROGRAMS 409 A. Introduction 409 FRA currently is sponsoring the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS) Demonstration Project to improve railroad safety by allowing railroad companies to report close calls without being penalized by FRA. The statutes summarized in Sections B and C authorize the Secretary of Transportation to create demonstration projects to improve railroad safety. The articles discussed in Section D focus on the C3RS’s benefits and challenges. Statutes and Regulations 410 B. Section 163 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 410 The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 authorized the Secretary of Transportation to implement demonstration projects to improve safety at railroad–highway grade crossings.280 C. Grade Crossings and Railroad Rights-of-Way 410 The Secretary of Transportation is required to establish demonstration projects to determine whether train accidents would be reduced by using reflective markers and stop or yield signs at railroad grade crossings and speed bumps or rumble strips prior to a crossing.281 278 Id. at 1128, 1130. 279 233 U.S. 546, 551–52, 34 S. Ct. 654, 58 L. Ed. 1088 (1914). 280 Federal Aid Highway Act of 1973, Pub. L. No. 93-87, §§ 163 and 230, 87 Stat. 250 (1973). See 23 U.S.C. § 130 (2014); § 230 repealed by Federal Aid Highway Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-280, § 135(c), 90 Stat. 442. 281 49 U.S.C. § 20134(c) (2014).

Next: XVII. Easements and Interpretation of Railroad Deeds »
Railroad Legal Issues and Resources Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

TRB’s National Cooperative Rail Research Program (NCRRP) Legal Research Digest 2: Railroad Legal Issues and Resources presents legal issues of importance that attorneys may encounter when representing both freight and passenger railroad owners, and operators involved in railroad-related transactions. Issues explored in the report range from abandonment and discontinuance to constitutional law, construction, contracts, interaction with regulatory agencies, safety, retirement, and numerous other subjects.

The electronic version of the digest includes more than 700 pages of case law presenting detailed summaries of statutes, regulations, cases, and relevant articles as a fundamental resource for use in understanding the background and broad ramifications of railroad-related law reflected in each category. To access the case law, click the Roman numeral headings, which are linked to the legal topics. A search for the legal topic will also result in finding it. The printed digest includes an annotated index of the case law and a bound-in CD-ROM with the case law reference materials.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!