HOUSE BILL No. 5704


     May 2, 2000, Introduced by Reps. Vander Roest, Spade, Birkholz, Kuipers, Garcia, Bishop and Richardville and referred to the
Committee on Transportation.


        A bill to amend 1993 PA 354, entitled

   "Railroad code of 1993,"

   by amending section 391 (MCL 462.391).

               THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

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           Sec. 391.  (1) A railroad OR AN EMPLOYEE OF A RAILROAD shall

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      not permit a train to obstruct vehicular traffic on a public

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      street or highway for longer than 5 minutes at any 1 time, except

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      the obstruction shall not be considered a violation under the

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      following circumstances:

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           (a) If the train is continuously moving in the same direc-

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      tion at not less than 10 miles per hour for not longer than 7

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      minutes.

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           (b) If the railroad can show that the incident occurred as a

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      result of a verifiable accident, mechanical failure, or unsafe

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      condition.


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           (2) A railroad OR AN EMPLOYEE OF A RAILROAD shall not permit

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      successive train movements to obstruct vehicular traffic on a

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      public street or highway until all vehicular traffic previously

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      delayed by such train movements has been cleared.

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           (3) A railroad company shall not permit its employees to

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      allow the activation of active traffic control devices at a rail-

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      road grade crossing for more than 2 minutes if there is no inten-

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      tion to move a train or track equipment through the crossing

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      within 20 seconds to 60 seconds after the activation of the

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      devices.

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           (4) Each offense under this section shall be a separate vio-

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      lation punishable by a fine of not more than $500.00 unless the

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      railroad OR AN EMPLOYEE OF THE RAILROAD is willfully, deliberate-

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      ly, and negligently blocking vehicular traffic and then the fine

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      shall be not more than $1,000.00 and the costs of prosecution.

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           (5) All fines civil or otherwise collected by a local unit

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      of government in excess of $10,000.00 annually from the enforce-

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      ment of a local ordinance substantially similar to this section

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      shall be allocated as follows:

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           (a) Fifteen percent shall be retained by each local unit of

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      government for costs of enforcement of the ordinance.

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           (b) Eighty-five percent shall be deposited in a railroad

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      grade crossing safety fund.  The revenue collected in this fund

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      shall be used solely for railroad grade crossing safety projects

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      in these local units of government.







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