The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 5 : Aeronautics and Surface Transportation Generally

Chapter 062 : Powers and Duties of Board Relating to Railroads

• § 3456. Jurisdiction

  Without affecting special provisions of law relating to matters contained in this section, the Board shall have jurisdiction on due notice to hear, determine, render judgment, and make orders and decrees in all matters provided for in the charter of any railroad, or in the statutes of this State relating to railroads, and shall have like jurisdiction in all matters respecting:

  (1) the crossing of one railroad by another;

  (2) highway grade crossings and signs, signals, gates, or flaggers at the same;

  (3) the construction and maintenance of proper fences, cattle guards, and farm crossings;

  (4) to the extent not preempted by federal law, and in order to accommodate the public and ensure safety and compliance with the law:

  (A) the maintenance of the tracks, frogs, switches, gates, signals, culverts, bridges, and other structures over openings; and

  (B) rolling stock and equipment;

  (5) the connections, time, and times of connection between connecting roads for the accommodation of the traveling public and the transportation of merchandise;

  (6) the manner of operating railroads and conducting the business thereof so as to be reasonable and expedient and to promote the security, convenience, and accommodation of the public and to prevent violations of law and unjust discriminations, usurpations, or extortions; and

  (7) any impediment alongside or adjacent to the rights-of-way of railroads, including damaged structures, that imperils the safe passage of trains. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(b), eff. March 1, 1961; 1981, No. 166 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 43; 2017, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 5.)