Section 1202 Of Chapter 6. Railroad Crossings From California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 6.
1202
. The commission has the exclusive power:
(a) To determine and prescribe the manner, including the
particular point of crossing, and the terms of installation,
operation, maintenance, use, and protection of each crossing of one
railroad by another railroad or street railroad, and of a street
railroad by a railroad, and of each crossing of a public or publicly
used road or highway by a railroad or street railroad, and of a
street by a railroad or of a railroad by a street.
(b) To alter, relocate, or abolish by physical closing any
crossing set forth in subdivision (a).
(c) To require, where in its judgment it would be practicable, a
separation of grades at any crossing established and to prescribe the
terms upon which the separation shall be made and the proportions in
which the expense of the construction, alteration, relocation, or
abolition of crossings or the separation of grades shall be divided
between the railroad or street railroad corporations affected or
between these corporations and the state, county, city, or other
political subdivision affected.
(d) (1) To authorize on an application-by-application basis and
supervise the operation of pilot projects to evaluate proposed
crossing warning devices, new technology, or other additional safety
measures at designated crossings, with the consent of the local
jurisdiction, the affected railroad, and other interested parties,
including, but not limited to, represented railroad employees.
(2) The Legislature finds and declares that for the communities of
the state that are traversed by railroads, there is a growing need
to mitigate train horn noise without compromising the safety of the
public. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the
commission may authorize the following pilot projects, after an
application is filed and approved by the commission:
(A) To test the utility and safety of stationary, automated
audible warning devices as an alternative to trains having to sound
their horns as they approach highway-rail crossings in the
communities of Roseville, Fremont, Newark, and Lathrop, and in any
other location determined to be suitable by the commission.
(B) To authorize supplementary safety measures, as defined in
Section 20153 (a)(3) of Title 49 of the United States Code, for use
on rail crossings.
No new pilot project may be authorized after January 1, 2003. The
commission shall report to the Legislature by March 31, 2004, on the
outcome of this pilot project.
(3) In light of the pending proposed ruling by the Federal
Railroad Administration on the use of locomotive horns at all
highway-rail crossings across the nation, it would be in the best
interest of the state for the commission to expedite the pilot
projects authorized under paragraph (2) in order to contribute data
to the federal rulemaking process regarding the possible inclusion of
stationary, automated warning devices as a safety measure option to
the proposed federal rule.