Public Act 094-0736
 
SB2489 Enrolled LRB094 18755 DRH 54137 b

    AN ACT concerning transportation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing
Section 18c-7503 as follows:
 
    (625 ILCS 5/18c-7503)  (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 18c-7503)
    Sec. 18c-7503. Trespassing on railroad property; terminal
security.
    (1) Trespassing on railroad property prohibited.
        (a) General prohibition. Except as otherwise provided
    in paragraph (b) of this subsection, no person may:
            (i) walk, ride, drive or be upon or along the right
        of way or rail yard of a rail carrier within the State,
        at a place other than a public crossing;
            (ii) enter or be upon any railroad property;
            (iii) without lawful authority or the railroad
        carrier's consent, ride on the outside of a train or
        inside a passenger car, locomotive, or freight car,
        including a box car, flatbed, or container;
            (iv) willfully lead or contrive any animal to go
        upon the railroad's rights of way for any reason other
        than to pass over such rights of way at a marked public
        crossing; or
            (v) throw or cause to be thrown on to the
        railroad's rights of way any waste paper, ashes,
        household waste, glass, metal, tires, refuse, or
        rubbish.
        (b) Exceptions. This subsection shall not apply to:
            (i) fare paying passengers on trains or employees
        of a rail carrier;
            (ii) railroad employees and an authorized
        representative of rail carrier employees, while
        performing required duties in accordance with
        reasonable rail carrier company guidelines;
            (iii) a person going upon the right of way or into
        the rail yard to save human life or to remove an object
        that a reasonable person would believe poses an
        imminent threat to human life or limb;
            (iv) a person being on the station grounds or in
        the depot of the rail carrier for the purpose of
        transacting business;
            (v) a person, his family, or his employees or
        agents going across a farm crossing, as defined in this
        Chapter, for the purpose of crossing from one part to
        another part of a farm he owns or leases, where the
        farm lies on both sides of the right of way;
            (vi) a person having written permission from the
        rail carrier to go upon the right of way or into the
        rail yard;
            (vii) representatives of local, State, and federal
        governmental agencies in performance of their official
        duties; and
            (viii) a person having written permission from the
        rail carrier to go in or be upon railroad property.
    (2) Penalties.
        (a) Any person found in violation of item (i), (ii),
    (iii) or (iv) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) shall be
    guilty of a Class C misdemeanor for a first offense. In
    addition to such other sanctions as may be deemed
    appropriate by the court, the person shall be subject to a
    mandatory fine of not less than $150 or more than $500, or
    to imprisonment for not less than 5 days nor more than 30
    days, or both. For each subsequent offense, the person
    shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. In addition to
    such sanctions as may be deemed appropriate by the court,
    the person shall be subject to a mandatory fine of not less
    than $500 nor more than $1,000, or to imprisonment for not
    less than 10 days or more than one year, or both.
        (b) Any person found in violation of item (v) of
    paragraph (a) of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an
    offense and in addition to such sanctions as may be deemed
    appropriate by the court shall be subject to a fine of not
    less than $100 nor more than $500, or community service of
    not less than 8 hours nor more than 50 hours, or both. If
    damage to any railroad property or bodily injury occurs to
    another as a result of a violation of item (v) of paragraph
    (a) of subsection (1), that person shall be charged with
    the offense of Malicious Removal of or Damage to Railroad
    Property or Freight pursuant to Section 18c-7502.
        (c) Local authorities shall impose fines as
    established in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection
    (2) for persons found in violation of this Section or any
    similar local ordinance.
    (2.5) Terminal security. The owner of a terminal is
expressly authorized, within the terminal property, to
construct and operate berms, commercially constructed electric
fences, and monitoring equipment as security measures for
reducing the economic impact of theft, enhancing homeland
security, and improving the protection of the general public
welfare. The terminal owner shall properly operate and maintain
these security measures. Any electric fence installed pursuant
to this subsection shall: (i) be marked with appropriate signs;
(ii) be entirely surrounded at a distance of at least 36 inches
by properly maintained non-electric perimeter fences at least 8
feet tall; (iii) operate at a level of current that is not
lethal to a human being upon contact; (iv) be covered at all
times by an insurance policy maintained by the operator of the
terminal for liability from claims arising out of the operation
of the fence in an amount not less than $10,000,000 per
occurrence; and (v) be regularly monitored and inspected by a
qualified electrician. The use of any of these security
measures in accordance with this subsection is not a violation
of this Sub-chapter.
    (3) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:
    "Passenger" means a person who is traveling by train with
lawful authority and who does not participate in the train's
operation. The term "passenger" does not include stowaways.
    "Railroad" means any form of nonhighway ground
transportation that runs on rails or electromagnetic
guideways, including:
            (i) commuter or other short-haul railroad
        passenger service in a metropolitan or urban area; and
            (ii) high-speed ground transportation systems that
        connect metropolitan areas; but does not include rapid
        transit operations in an urban area that are not
        connected to the general railroad system of
        transportation.
    "Railroad carrier" means a person providing railroad
transportation.
    "Railroad property" means all tangible property owned,
leased, or operated by a railroad carrier including a right of
way, track, bridge, yard, shop, station, tunnel, viaduct,
trestle, depot, warehouse, terminal, or any other structure,
appurtenance, or equipment owned, leased, or used in the
operation of any railroad carrier including trains,
locomotives, engines, railroad cars, work equipment, rolling
stock, or safety devices. "Railroad property" does not include
a railroad carrier's administrative buildings or offices,
office equipment, or intangible property such as software or
other information.
    "Right of way" means the track or roadbed owned, leased, or
operated by a rail carrier which is located on either side of
its tracks and which is readily recognizable to a reasonable
person as being railroad property or is reasonably identified
as such by fencing or appropriate signs.
    "Terminal" means a rail terminal facility, intermodal
facility where at least one mode of transportation serviced by
the facility is a railroad, or other railroad freight facility
larger than 25 acres.
    "Yard" means a system of parallel tracks, crossovers, and
switches where railroad cars are switched and made up into
trains, and where railroad cars, locomotives, and other rolling
stock is kept when not in use or when awaiting repair.
(Source: P.A. 90-655, eff. 7-30-98; 90-691, eff. 1-1-98;
91-532, eff. 1-1-00.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 05/01/2006