1-1 By: Cain S.B. No. 1098
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 10, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 May 13, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 1; May 13, 1999,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1098 By: Cain
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to crew requirements for railroads.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Article 6380, Revised Statutes, is amended to
1-13 read as follows:
1-14 Art. 6380. FULL CREW. (a) For the purposes of this
1-15 article, a person is a qualified engineer or qualified railroad
1-16 conductor if the person has successfully completed a railroad
1-17 carrier's training program applicable to the appropriate position
1-18 and passed an examination on railroad operating rules.
1-19 (b) No railroad company or receiver of any railroad company
1-20 doing business in this State shall run over its road, or part of
1-21 its road, outside of the yard limits:
1-22 (1) any [1. Any] passenger train with less than a
1-23 full passenger crew consisting of four persons: one engineer, one
1-24 fireman, one conductor, and one brakeman;[.]
1-25 (2) any [2. Any] freight train, gravel train, mixed
1-26 train, work train, or construction train with less than a full crew
1-27 consisting of two [five] persons: one qualified railroad
1-28 [engineer, one fireman, one] conductor and one qualified engineer;
1-29 or
1-30 (3) any [two brakemen.]
1-31 [3. Any] light engine with less than [without] a full
1-32 [train] crew consisting of two [three] persons: one qualified
1-33 engineer[, one fireman] and one qualified railroad conductor.
1-34 (c) [4.] The provisions of this article shall not apply to
1-35 a designated service or repair track when that repair track is
1-36 protected by switch locks, blue flags, and derails and the movement
1-37 will not consist of occupying a main track [nor include any
1-38 railroad company or receiver thereof, of any line of railroad in
1-39 this State, less than twenty miles in length; and nothing in
1-40 subdivisions one and two hereof shall apply in case of disability
1-41 of one or more of any train crew while out on the road between
1-42 division terminals, or to switching crews in charge of yard
1-43 engines, or which may be required to push trains out of the yard
1-44 limits].
1-45 (d) The control locomotive of a train described under
1-46 Subsection (b)(2) of this article shall be operated by a qualified
1-47 engineer at any time the locomotive is in motion. A qualified
1-48 railroad conductor on a train described under Subsection (b)(2) of
1-49 this article may dismount the train to perform necessary job
1-50 duties, including rail switching activities.
1-51 (e) Nothing in this article shall prevent the railroads from
1-52 operating with crews consisting of more than two persons.
1-53 (f) This article applies to all trains operated in this
1-54 State to the extent that it does not conflict with federal law.
1-55 (g) Any such company or receiver which shall violate any
1-56 provision of this article shall be liable to this State for a
1-57 penalty of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand
1-58 dollars for each offense. Suit for such penalty shall be brought
1-59 in Travis County or in any county in or through which such line of
1-60 railroad may run, by the Attorney General, or under his direction,
1-61 or by the county or district attorney in any county in or through
1-62 which such railroad may be operated. Such suits shall be subject
1-63 to the provisions of Article 6477.
1-64 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-1 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-6 * * * * *