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: February 3, 2019