Title VIII, TRANSPORTATION (Ch. 306 - 330B)

1. Wherever a railway track crosses or shall hereafter cross a highway, street or alley, the railway corporation owning such track and the department, in the case of primary highways, the board of supervisors of the county in which such crossing is located, in the case of seconda…

If the persons specified in section 327G.15 cannot reach an agreement, either party may make written application to the department requesting resolution of the disagreement. The department shall request the department of inspections, appeals, and licensing to set a date for heari…

1. The department of inspections, appeals, and licensing shall hear the evidence of each party to the controversy and shall make an order, which may include, pursuant to chapters 6A and 6B , authority to condemn, resolving the controversy. The order shall include the portion of t…

Any portion of the expense of making such crossing changes and alterations borne by any municipal corporation or township, the state or any person, shall forever be held in trust by such railroad corporation or its successors, and no part of such funds shall constitute any part o…

There is hereby created a fund which shall be known as the highway grade crossing safety fund and shall be made up of the amount allocated by the state treasurer from the road use tax fund. [C62, 66, 71, 73, 75, §478.25; C77, 79, 81, §327G.19 ]

Every corporation constructing or operating a railway shall make and construct at all points where such railway crosses any public road good, sufficient, and safe crossings and erect at such points, at a sufficient elevation from such road as to admit a free passage of vehicles o…

When a railroad company changes, alters, or repairs a highway crossing, it shall upon completion of the work leave it free from obstructions to travel and in good condition. If travel will be obstructed while any alterations or repairs are being made, the railroad company shall p…

Upon consummation of an abandonment of a railway line authorized under 49 U.S.C. §10903 adopted as of a specific date by rule by the department, or upon interim use of railroad rights-of-way to establish appropriate trails pursuant to 16 U.S.C. §1247(d) adopted as of a specific d…

A railway corporation shall not close a railway crossing to the traveling public for more than thirty days for the purpose of repairing or upgrading the crossing. A railway corporation violating this section shall, upon conviction, be subject to a schedule “one” penalty. 2000 Act…

1. There is established a highway railroad grade crossing surface repair fund in the office of the treasurer of state. The department may credit to this fund: a. Moneys appropriated to the department from the general fund of the state. b. Moneys appropriated to the department fro…

All railway corporations owning or operating a line of railway within the state shall construct, maintain, and keep in repair a fence on each side of the right-of-way, to prevent livestock getting upon the tracks. [C97, §2057; S13, §2057; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 8001; C46, 50, 54,…

1. If a grade crossing surface of a railroad track and a highway, street, or alley shall require repairs or maintenance, the costs for the maintenance may be paid as provided in section 312.2, subsection 2 . 2. If the railroad corporation and the jurisdiction having authority agr…

If a railroad corporation and the jurisdiction having authority cannot reach agreement on grade crossing surface repair and maintenance, either party may appeal to the department of inspections, appeals, and licensing if prior to disagreement both parties have filed a statement w…

1. A railroad corporation or its employees shall not operate a train in such a manner as to prevent vehicular use of a highway, street, or alley for a period of time in excess of ten minutes except in any of the following circumstances: a. When necessary to comply with signals af…

1. All fences shall be not less than fifty-four inches high and may be of any of the following types: a. Not less than five barbed wires, properly spaced. b. Not less than three barbed wires above and not less than twenty-four inches of woven wire below. c. Entirely of woven wire…

When any person owning land abutting on the right-of-way is maintaining a hog-tight fence on all sides thereof or any division of such land except along such right-of-way, the railway company owning such right-of-way shall, on written request of the landowner, make such right-of-…

Any corporation operating a railway and failing to fence its right-of-way shall be liable to the owner of any stock killed or injured by reason of the want of such fence for the full amount of the damages sustained by the owner, unless it was occasioned by the willful act of such…

As used in this subchapter : 1. “Department” means the state department of transportation. 2. “Spur track” means a railroad track located wholly within the state connected to a main or branch line of a railroad and used to originate or terminate traffic at one or more industries …

When a disagreement arises between a railroad corporation, its grantee, or its successor in interest, and the owner, lessee, or licensee of a building or other improvement, including trackage, used for receiving, storing, transporting, or manufacturing an article of commerce tran…

In the event that any building referred to in section 327G.62 , situated on the right-of-way or other land of a railroad company used for railway purposes, shall be injured or destroyed by the negligence of the railroad company, or the servants or agents thereof in the conduct of…

1. Every railroad corporation may acquire, by condemnation or purchase, the necessary rights-of-way and may construct, connect, operate and maintain a reasonably adequate and suitable spur track if the construction and operation is not unsafe and is in the public interest. 2. Any…

The railroad corporation may require the person primarily to be served to pay the legitimate cost and expense of acquiring, by condemnation or purchase, the necessary right-of-way for the spur track and of constructing it, as determined in separate items by the department. Except…

When the total estimated cost has been ascertained by the department such person, firm, corporation, or association shall have the option to either deposit said amount with the railroad company or to file with such company its written election to build and construct such spur tra…

In any event before the railroad company shall be required to incur any expense whatever in the construction of such spur track the person, firm, corporation, or association primarily to be served thereby shall give the railroad company a bond to be approved by the department as …

In case of failure, neglect, or refusal of any railroad company to comply with any of the provisions of sections 327G.65 through 327G.67 , the person, firm, corporation, or association primarily to be served thereby may file a complaint with the department setting forth the facts…

Whenever such spur track is so connected with the main line, as provided in this chapter , at the expense of the owner of such proposed or existing mill, elevator, storehouse, dock, wharf, pier, manufacturing establishment, and any person, firm, corporation, or association shall …

If such corporation fails or neglects to pay such damages within ninety days after notice in writing that a loss or injury has occurred, accompanied by an affidavit thereof, served upon any officer or station or ticket agent employed by said corporation in the county where such l…

Railroad property rights which are extinguished upon cessation of service by the railroad divest when the department of transportation or the railroad, having obtained authority to abandon the rail line, removes the track materials to the right-of-way. If the department of transp…

1. If a railroad easement is extinguished under section 327G.76 , the property shall pass to the owners of the adjacent property at the time of abandonment. If there are different owners on either side, each owner will take to the center of the right-of-way. Section 614.24 which …

1. Subject to section 6A.16 and 327G.77 , when a railroad corporation, its trustee, or its successor in interest has interests in real property adjacent to a railroad right-of-way that are abandoned by order of the surface transportation board, reorganization court, bankruptcy co…

1. The department of inspections, appeals, and licensing’s determination and order shall be just and equitable and, in the case of the determination of the fair market value of the property, shall be based in part upon at least three independent appraisals prepared by certified a…

No law of the state or any local or police regulations of any county, township or city, relating to the restraint of domestic animals, or in relation to the fences of farmers or landowners, shall be applicable to railway rights-of-way, unless specifically so stated in such law an…

1. A person, including a state agency or political subdivision of the state, who acquires a railroad right-of-way after July 1, 1979, for a purpose other than farming has all of the following responsibilities concerning that right-of-way: a. Construction, maintenance, and repair …

If the railroad corporation refuses or neglects to comply with any provision of this chapter relating to the fencing of the tracks, such railroad corporation shall, upon conviction, be subject to a schedule “two” penalty and every thirty days’ continuance of such refusal or negle…