ASSEMBLY, No. 1766

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MARCH 25, 1996

 

 

By Assemblymen IMPREVEDUTO and KELLY

 

 

An Act concerning rail transportation and supplementing Title 27 and Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. A right-of-way of a railroad line in this State used for rail passenger service by a railroad company shall contain a marker along the right-of-way at every one-tenth of a mile interval indicating the mileage so that the marker may be used to identify the location of a train in the event of an emergency. The markers required by this section shall be installed no later than one year following the effective date of this act.

 

    2. A right-of-way of a railroad line in this State used for rail passenger service by the New Jersey Transit Corporation shall contain a marker along the right-of-way at every one-tenth of a mile interval indicating the mileage so that the marker may be used to identify the location of a train in the event of an emergency. The markers required by this section shall be installed no later than one year following the effective date of this act.

 

    3. Not later than six months following the effective date of this act, the New Jersey Transit Corporation shall develop an emergency response access plan for railroad lines in this State used for rail passenger service. The plan shall evaluate the accessibility of the various sections of those rail lines to emergency service vehicles and shall recommend what steps should be taken to improve emergency vehicle access. In particular, consideration shall be given to the construction of access roads to the railroad rights-of-way, the construction of paved or graded roadways and pathways, using crushed stone or other material, along the right-of-way adjacent to the tracks so that emergency vehicles will have access during inclement weather conditions, and any other measures necessary to insure the accessibility of rail lines to emergency rescue vehicles in the event of an accident or emergency. The plan, along with any accompanying findings, conclusions and recommendations, shall be submitted by the board of the corporation to the Commissioner of Transportation, for the commissioner's consideration, and shall include recommendations for appropriate funding to be included in the commissioner's report of proposed projects to be submitted pursuant to section 22 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-22).

 

    4. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    The purpose of this bill is to address some of the problems found in the response to the recent train accident in which three people were killed and hundreds were injured. One problem was that the location of the train was not able to be determined by a passenger attempting to call for assistance on his cellular telephone. A second problem was that, because of muddy conditions on the adjacent right-of-way, emergency rescue vehicles had difficulty reaching the train to render assistance to the victims.

    The bill provides an immediate response to the first problem by requiring both New Jersey Transit, as well as the railroad companies, such as Amtrak, to install mile markers every 1/10th of a mile in order to permit the location of a train to be easily identified in the event of an emergency. A one-year time period is provided for the installation of the markers.

    The bill also provides for New Jersey Transit to develop an emergency response access plan within six months which would evaluate the emergency accessibility of various sections of the State's rail passenger lines and what steps should be taken to improve accessibility. Particular consideration is to be given to the construction of access roads to the railroad rights-of-way and the construction of suitably paved and graded roadways and pathways, using crushed stone or other suitable material, along the right-of-way adjacent to the tracks. The plan is to be submitted by the New Jersey Transit Board of Directors to the Commissioner of Transportation, along with recommendations for funding to be included by the commissioner in the annual report of proposed projects for Transportation Trust Fund funding.

 

 

                             

 

Requires NJT to install mile markers and develop emergency response access plan for railroad lines.