Title 56, Title 56. Public Service Companies

The president or any other executive officer of any railroad company incorporated by this Commonwealth may, with the approval of the circuit court of any county or the corporation court of any city through which the road passes or has its chief office, appoint one or more police …

Conductors and engineers of railroad passenger trains, and station and depot agents, shall be conservators of the peace. Each shall have the same power to make arrests that other conservators of the peace have except that the conductors and engineers of passenger trains shall onl…

"Public road authority" as used in this chapter means any appropriate governing body which has responsibility for the construction and maintenance of public highways. "Overpass" as used in this chapter means a grade separation structure in which the public highway passes above an…

Any railroad corporation created or doing business under the laws of this Commonwealth, which shall have fully located the route of its railway, may, in the construction of such railway on such route, cross any canal, navigable stream, or watercourse between its termini, but in s…

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Commonwealth that all crossings of one railroad by another, or a public highway by a railroad, or a railroad by a public highway, shall, wherever reasonably practicable, pass above or below the existing facility. And every railroad he…

Whenever the public safety requires that an existing crossing of a railroad by a public highway at grade be eliminated or that multiple grade crossings be consolidated, either the public road authority or the affected railroad may petition the Commonwealth Transportation Board to…

Whenever a road in the primary or secondary state highway system or a public highway maintained by a locality (i) crosses a railroad, (ii) is projected across a railroad, or (iii) is to be so changed as to cross a railroad, or an existing overpass or underpass crossing of any suc…

In the event an existing overpass or crossing over a railroad is destroyed or rendered unusable or otherwise becomes necessary to alter, rebuild, or replace, which overpass or crossing is maintained by a railroad company, such company shall immediately notify the Commissioner of …

After the work specified in §§ 56-366.1 and 56-366.3 regarding underpasses and overpasses has been done, the maintenance, including drainage, of any underpass hereafter so constructed, except the pavement thereof, shall be the sole responsibility of the railroad company and the m…

Whenever the Commissioner of Highways or the appropriate public road authority in improving the alignment of public highways proposes to change the alignment of the highway or construct a replacement public highway and thereby permanently eliminate as a public crossing one or mor…

Any railroad company may construct and maintain along the line of its improvement an electric telegraph or telephone for its own use and that of the public, and may make reasonable charges on messages and intelligence conveyed thereby.

At every crossing, now existing or hereafter established, of a public road by a railroad or of a railroad by a public highway at grade, it shall be the duty of the railroad company to keep such crossing in good repair to the full width of the public highway, and to maintain such …

When adjustments are made to railway trackage grade which crosses public rights-of-way in use as a public highway or street in any locality, the railway company making such adjustments to their trackage shall also make initial adjustments to those public highways or streets so af…

Whenever the Commissioner of Highways or representative of the appropriate public road authority determines that it is in the best interest of the public to assist a railroad in its grade crossing maintenance and repair activities, he is authorized to enter into an agreement with…

Every railroad company shall cause signal boards, hereinafter referred to as crossbucks, well supported by posts or otherwise and approved by the Department of Transportation at such heights as to be easily seen by travelers from both directions of the public highway, and not obs…

Railroads shall cooperate with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation in furnishing information and technical assistance to enable the Commonwealth to develop plans and project priorities for the elimination of hazardous con…

Whenever any automatically operated gate, signal or other automatic crossing warning device has been or may hereafter be installed at any highway, road or street grade crossing by any railroad company, the Commissioner of Highways or the public road authority may agree with the r…

No device or sign which is in the form of a railroad crossing signboard shall be erected or permitted to remain on or near any of the public roads of this Commonwealth, except as required by § 56-405.2. Any person who shall erect such a device or sign, as aforesaid, and every sig…

Every railway company operating in this Commonwealth shall be required to clear from its right-of-way trees and brush for 100' on each side of public road crossings at grade when such trees or brush would otherwise obstruct the view of approaching trains. Every railway company vi…

Whenever railroads cross each other on the same grade in this Commonwealth, the trains shall be brought to a full stop at least fifty feet before getting to the crossing. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable where the crossings of such roads are regulated by der…

It shall be unlawful for any railroad company, or any receiver or trustee operating a railroad, to obstruct for a longer period than five minutes the free passage on any street or road by standing cars or trains across the same, except a passenger train while receiving or dischar…

No city, town or county shall adopt any ordinance, order or resolution in conflict with the provisions of § 56-412.1 and all ordinances, orders or resolutions of any city, town or county heretofore adopted in conflict with such section are hereby repealed to the extent of such co…

The Board of Supervisors of Buchanan County is hereby authorized to maintain roadways located within the right-of-way of railroads pursuant to an agreement between Buchanan County and the railroad. However, nothing in this section shall obligate Buchanan County or the railroad to…

All locomotives and rail cars operating over the tracks of a railroad company are subject to Federal Railroad Administration jurisdiction and shall be maintained in accordance with federal standards. Locomotives designed with spark arrestors shall be cleaned and maintained on a r…

Every railroad company shall provide each locomotive passing upon its road with a bell of ordinary size and steam whistle or horn, and such whistle or horn shall be sharply sounded outside cities and towns at least twice at a distance of not less than 300 yards nor more than 600 …

Every officer or employee of any railway company, whose duty it shall be to carry out any of the provisions of § 56-414 and shall fail to do so, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten dollars for each offense.

If the employees in charge of any railroad engine or train fail to give the signals required by law on approaching a grade crossing of a public highway not protected with an automatically operating gate, operating wigwag signal or other operating electrical or operating automatic…

No railroad, nor any person, firm or corporation operating any railroad shall hereafter construct or erect any track, building, sign, guidepost, switch stand or structure of any kind unless there is sufficient clearance provided for the safety of any employee or servant in the no…

It shall be unlawful for any person to make, buy, sell, or give away to any other person any duplicate key to any lock belonging to, or in use by, any railroad company in this Commonwealth on its switches or switch tracks, except upon the written order of that officer of the rail…

A. As used in this section "motor vehicle" shall mean any motor vehicle designed for highway use, owned or operated by a railroad, whether or not it is used on the highways of this Commonwealth. B. No motor vehicle shall be used for transporting one or more railroad employees thr…

A. No railroad company shall use or allow the use of any train, locomotive, or light engine in connection with the movement of freight unless such train, locomotive, or light engine has a crew consisting of at least two qualified individuals. No provision of this section shall ap…

Whenever any person sustains damage from fire occasioned by sparks or coals dropped or thrown from the engine or train of any railroad company, such company shall be liable for the damage so sustained, whether such fire originated on the company's right-of-way or not.

Upon the written request by certified mail to the registered agent of the railroad in question of any landowner whose land adjoins the railroad and whose land is otherwise enclosed for the purpose of maintaining livestock, every railroad company shall cause fences to be erected a…

Section 56-429, so far as it relates to fencing, shall not apply to any part of a railroad located within the corporate limits of a city or town, or between the terminals of switches, or spur tracks, not exceeding 350 yards from the depot, either way, nor to any part of a railroa…

No railroad company shall be liable for any injury to any person or property on such part of its track as may be enclosed according to the provisions of this chapter, unless it be made to appear that the person or property was thereon by express permission of the company, or thro…

In any action or suit against a railroad company for an injury to any property on any part of its tracks not enclosed according to the provisions of this chapter it shall not be necessary for the claimant to show that the injury was caused by the negligence of the company, its em…

Every railroad company whose road passes through any enclosed lands in this Commonwealth shall construct and keep in good order cattle guards reasonably sufficient to prevent the passage of livestock of every kind over such land, at any point where a fence may be necessary or pro…

Every railroad company, after erecting the fences mentioned in § 56-429, may discontinue all cattle guards enclosed by such fences, except such as are provided for at public or private crossings, and in lieu thereof the owners of contiguous lands may connect their fences with tho…

In all suits brought before the general district court against railroad companies to recover penalties for failure to construct cattle guards as required by law, either party shall have the right of appeal to the circuit court of the county where such suit is brought, from the ju…

Whenever any horses, cattle, or other livestock are killed or injured, or other property damaged, by the cars or locomotives upon any railroad, it shall be lawful for the owner thereof or for the railroad company to have the property examined and the damages assessed by a board o…

If the railroad company fails, for sixty days after such report is so returned to such clerk, to pay to the owner the full amount assessed by the board of appraisers under § 56-436, and the cost attending the assessment, the owner shall have the right to institute suit on the ori…

Appraisers appointed pursuant to the provisions of § 56-436 shall receive for their services each the sum of one dollar.

The provisions of §§ 56-436 through 56-438 shall not apply to any railroad company which has its line of road enclosed with fences and cattle guards, as required by law.

Whenever any horses, cattle, or other livestock are injured or killed by the cars or locomotives operating on a railroad, the section master or employee of the railroad having charge of the road at the place where the injury or death occurred shall, if he knows of the incident or…

If any railroad, when directed so to do by a valid order of the State Corporation Commission, shall refuse or fail to remove the cause of complaint of the authorities of any incorporated city or town in which such railroad is located, as to the physical condition or operation of …

Every corporation operating a railroad in this Commonwealth, whether such corporation be created under the laws of this Commonwealth or otherwise, shall be liable in damages for any and all injury sustained by any employee of such corporation under the following circumstances: (1…