Wisconsin Legislature: Ch. Trans 29 TOC

Trans 29.01Trans 29.01 Purpose. This chapter prescribes policies and procedures for installing and maintaining utility facilities on department railroad property. Under this chapter, utility facility installation, modification and maintenance may be permitted if it does not adversely affect existing or anticipated railroad operations, otherwise impair department railroad property or conflict with any federal, state, or local laws. This chapter applies to all public and private utilities including: municipal and cooperative utilities, cable television companies and individuals desiring to install or maintain a utility facility on department railroad property. This chapter interprets ss. 85.08, 85.09 and 85.15, Stats. Chapter PSC 132 does not apply to department railroad property.

Trans 29.01 HistoryHistory: Cr. Register, December, 1985, No. 360, eff. 1-1-86; am. Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99.

Trans 29.02Trans 29.02 Application. This chapter shall apply to all existing utility facilities retained, relocated, replaced or altered on department railroad property and to all new utility facilities installed on department railroad property. It describes the minimum requirements that any utility shall meet before installing or maintaining a utility facility on department railroad property.

Trans 29.02 HistoryHistory: Cr. Register, December, 1985, No. 360, eff. 1-1-86.

Trans 29.03Trans 29.03 Definitions. In this chapter:

Trans 29.03(1)(1) “AREA” means the American railway engineering association, manual for railway engineering, chapter 1, part 5, revised in 1993.

Trans 29.03 NoteNote: The Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 1, Part 5, is on file at the offices of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Secretary of State, and the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Railroads and Harbors. Copies of this publication can be obtained by writing to the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance Association, 50 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001.

Trans 29.03(2)(2) “Cable” means either a stranded conductor or a combination of conductors insulated from each other.

Trans 29.03(3)(3) “Carrier” means a pipe, pipeline or other container carrying or otherwise conveying a liquid, gas or other material, not including electric current or impulses.

Trans 29.03(4)(4) “Casing” means a protective outer covering, separate from the carrier, designed to withstand external forces equal to or greater than the carrier.

Trans 29.03(5)(5) “Circuit” means a conductor or system of conductors through which electric current or light can flow or travel.

Trans 29.03(6)(6) “Conduit” means channels or tubes for enclosing and protecting communication or electric power lines.

Trans 29.03(7)(7) “Department” means the Wisconsin department of transportation or any successor to that department charged by law with administering Wisconsin’s railroad programs.

Trans 29.03(8)(8) “Department railroad property” means railroad property or rail or land bank property owned, controlled or possessed by the department.

Trans 29.03(9)(9) “Duct” means a tube or pipe designed or used for enclosing and protecting wire or cable underground.

Trans 29.03(10)(10) “Installation” means the initial placement of a utility facility upon, over, under or within department railroad property.

Trans 29.03(11)(11) “Modification” includes changing or adjusting the physical location or capacity of an existing utility facility located on department railroad property by such actions as placing additional overhead wires; replacing existing overhead wires with higher voltage wires; changing the existing placement of poles, pedestals or other above-ground appurtenances; or replacing underground carrier pipes or casings.

Trans 29.03(12)(12) “Pipeline” means a utility facility installed to carry or convey a fluid, gas or other material underground and includes the casing and the carrier.

Trans 29.03(13)(13) “Plowing” means a mechanical technique for direct burial of a carrier, duct or cable in a furrow or groove cut into the ground by a single operation, without any intervening activity between the cutting of the furrow or groove and the burial of the carrier, duct or cable.

Trans 29.03(14)(14) “Railroad facility” means track, ties, drainage structure, bridge or related items used for existing or for anticipated railroad operations.

Trans 29.03(15)(15) “Rail or land bank property” means railroad property or facilities owned, controlled or possessed by the department for future rail or other transportation purposes and on which there is no current railroad operator.

Trans 29.03(16)(16) “Railroad operator” means a railroad carrier that provides rail service over a department railroad property or that is under an agreement with a transit commission to provide rail service over the department’s railroad property.

Trans 29.03(17)(17) “Railroad property” means land, usually a strip, used in the operation, maintenance or construction of a railroad.

Trans 29.03(18)(18) “Routine maintenance” includes work concerning the normal upkeep and servicing of a utility facility and includes those utility facility changes not defined as an installation or modification.

Trans 29.03(19)(19) “Separate utility installation” means a distinct utility activity or service.

Trans 29.03(20)(20) “Track zone” means:

Trans 29.03(20)(a)(a) The track structure, including, but not limited to, the rails, ties or fastenings; and

Trans 29.03(20)(b)(b) The substructure upon which the track is located, including, but not limited to, the ballast, subballast or embankment, extending out from the track centerline a minimum of 12 feet on either side. In the following circumstances, however, the track zone extends beyond the 12 foot minimum on either side of the track centerline:

Trans 29.03(20)(b)1.1. In embankments, the outer boundary of the track zone is the toe of the embankment slope, which is the intersection of an embankment slope with the ground surface; and

Trans 29.03(20)(b)2.2. In cuts, the outer boundary of the track zone is the intersection of the plane of the roadbed with the cut slope.

Trans 29.03(21)(21) “Transit commission” means a local government commission formed under s. 59.58 (3), 66.0301, or 66.1021, Stats., for the purpose of preserving rail service.

Trans 29.03(22)(22) “Utility” means:

Trans 29.03(22)(a)(a) Any corporation, company, individual or association, including their lessees, trustees or receivers, or any sanitary district, cooperative association, town, village or city that owns, operates, manages or controls any plant or fixed equipment within this state for the conveyance of messages or for the production, transmission, delivery or furnishing of power, electricity, light, heat, gas, oil, crude products, water, steam, waste or storm water.

Trans 29.03(22)(b)(b) The owners, operators, managers, or controllers of cable television systems, publicly owned fire or police signal systems, traffic and street lighting facilities, or private utilities.

Trans 29.03(23)(23) “Utility facility” means all physical components of a utility located upon, over, under or within the department railroad property.

Trans 29.03(24)(24) “Utility permit” or “permit” means the document by which the department grants a utility permission to use or occupy department railroad property.

Trans 29.03 HistoryHistory: Cr. Register, December, 1985, No. 360, eff. 1-1-86; r. and recr. (1), am. (4), (8), (18) and (19), Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99; corrections in (21) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register March 2012 No. 675.

Trans 29.04Trans 29.04 Permits.

Trans 29.04(1)(1) Permit required.

Trans 29.04(1)(a)(a) A utility shall obtain a permit from the department before installing or modifying a utility facility on any department railroad property. It is the responsibility of the utility to apply for and obtain the required permit.

Trans 29.04(1)(b)(b) A permit is required for every separate utility installation or modification. A utility may include several utility facilities in the same application if the utility owns each facility and the installation or modification occurs at the same time.

Trans 29.04(2)(2) Authority granted by permit.

Trans 29.04(2)(a)(a) By issuing a permit, the department:

Trans 29.04(2)(a)1.1. Approves, subject to the permit conditions, a specified use and occupancy of department railroad property; but

Trans 29.04(2)(a)2.2. Does not warrant that title to the department railroad property is free and clear of all encumbrances, that it has sole ownership or that it will defend the utility in its peaceful use and occupancy of the department railroad property.

Trans 29.04(2)(b)(b) A permit from the department does not relieve a utility from the responsibility to comply with all applicable federal and state laws and local ordinances affecting the design, materials or performance of the permitted activity and does not supersede any other governmental requirements for plan approval or for authority to undertake the permitted activity.

Trans 29.04(2)(c)(c) The department may terminate a permit at any time for any lawful reason. A utility shall not obtain any interest or estate of any kind or extent whatsoever in the department railroad property by reason of a permit or by reason of the occupancy or use permitted. The permit is personal to the utility and shall not pass to its successors or assigns. Upon request, however, to ease the burdens accompanying utility ownership changes, the department may allow a successor utility to obtain permits identical to those held by its predecessor; this may be done by filing a request to obtain permits identical to those held by the predecessor utility and shall not require the permittee to file a permit application under this chapter for each separate permit sought.

Trans 29.04(3)(3) Facilities within highway right-of-way.

Trans 29.04(3)(a)(a) The department shall require a utility highway permit for a utility facility proposed within that portion of department railroad property that lies within a state trunk highway right-of-way. A utility facility authorized within department railroad property by a highway permit shall be constructed in accordance with this chapter.

Trans 29.04(3)(b)(b) A utility shall obtain a permit under this chapter where a utility facility either exists or is proposed within a town, county, village or city highway or street right-of-way existing over, upon or across department railroad property.

Trans 29.04(4)(4) Permit application processing.

Trans 29.04(4)(a)(a) A permit application shall be required for each separate utility facility, except for the placement of additional circuits, cables, tubes or appurtenances within an existing conduit or duct. A utility seeking a permit shall provide the department with 4 copies of a utility permit application. The department shall distribute the permit application for timely comment and review to the appropriate transit commission, to the railroad operator and to all appropriate department offices. The department shall seek concurrence, within 20 business days, from any affected railroad operator and rail transit commission, but the department may approve the permit application without first obtaining the concurrence of the railroad operator or the transit commission.