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New York Railroad Law Section 71 - Duties Imposed.

Legal Research Home > New York Lawyer > Railroad > New York Railroad Law Section 71 - Duties Imposed.

    § 71.  Duties  imposed.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every railroad
  corporation operating its road by steam:
    1. To lay, in the construction of new and in the renewal  of  existing
  switches,  upon  freight  or passenger main line tracks, switches on the
  principle of either the so-called Tyler, Wharton, Lorenz, or split-point
  switch, or some other kind of safety switch,  which  shall  prevent  the
  derailment  of  a  train,  when  such  switch  is  misplaced or a switch
  interlocked with distant signals.
    2. To erect and thereafter maintain such suitable warning  signals  at
  every  road,  bridge,  or structure which crosses the railroad above the
  tracks, where such warning signals may be necessary, for the  protection
  of employees on top of cars from injury.
    3.  To  use  upon  every  new freight car, built or purchased for use,
  couplers which can be coupled and uncoupled automatically,  without  the
  necessity of having a person guide the link, lift the pin by hand, or go
  between the ends of the cars.
    4.  To  attach  to  every  car  used  for  passenger transportation an
  automatic air-brake or other form of safety-power  brake,  applied  from
  the  locomotive, excepting cars attached to freight trains, the schedule
  rate of speed of which does not exceed twenty miles an hour.
    5. To provide each closed car in use in every passenger train owned or
  regularly used upon a railroad, with such tools as the  commissioner  of
  transportation   may  require,  to  be  placed  where  directed  by  the
  commissioner.
    6. To provide, in each passenger car, where the  line  of  road  shall
  exceed  forty  continuous  miles  in  length,  a suitable receptacle for
  water, with a cup  or  drinking  utensil  attached  upon  or  near  such
  receptacle,  and  to  keep  such  receptacle,  while  the car is in use,
  constantly supplied with cool  water.    Every  corporation,  person  or
  persons, operating such railroad, and violating any of the provisions of
  this  section,  except  subdivision six, shall be liable to a penalty of
  one hundred dollars for each offense, and the  further  penalty  of  ten
  dollars for each day that it shall omit or neglect to comply with any of
  such  provisions.  For  every  violation  of the provisions of the sixth
  subdivision of this section every such corporation shall be liable to  a
  penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offense.

Last modified: August 27, 2006