Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Transportation › Chapter Trans 31 - Rail passenger excursions on state-owned rail lines › Section Trans 31.02 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
In this chapter:
(1)
			 "Additional application" means a subsequent application for an additional
			 excursion to be held during the same calendar year in which an applicant has
			 applied for and obtained a permit to operate an excursion train by the same
			 operator or sponsor.
(1m)
			 "Applicant" means a person applying for a permit to operate a rail passenger
			 excursion train on state-owned railroad lines under this chapter.
(2) "BR&H" means the bureau of railroads
			 and harbors within the department.
(3) "Commission" means the municipal body
			 which has received a grant from the department for the preservation of freight
			 rail service and provides itself, or has contracted with an operator to
			 provide, freight rail service on the line proposed to be used for operation of
			 a rail passenger excursion train.
(4) "Commuter train" means a short-haul rail
			 passenger service operating in metropolitan and suburban areas, whether within
			 or across the geographic boundaries of a state, usually characterized by
			 reduced fare, multiple rides and commutation tickets and by morning and evening
			 peak period operations.
(5)
			 "Customer special" means a train carrying persons, without a fee paid by any
			 person, for the purpose of earning the goodwill of current and potential
			 customers of the operator, for showing all or a portion of the state-owned
			 railroad property to members of the commission or other government officials or
			 for showing all or a portion of the state-owned railroad property to employees
			 of the operator or members of their families.
(5m) "Day" means calendar, not work,
			 day.
(6) "Department" means the
			 Wisconsin department of transportation or any successor to that department
			 charged by law with administering Wisconsin's railroad programs.
(7) "Dinner train" means a train which is
			 operated for the purpose of passenger recreation, including serving a meal for
			 which a fee is paid by the passengers or any other person.
(8) "Excursion train" means a train or a
			 dinner train operated for pleasure or recreation which carries passengers for a
			 fee, or any other vehicle operated on rails for pleasure or recreation
			 regardless of whether passengers are carried or a fee is charged. "Excursion
			 train" does not include customer specials, commuter trains, and trains operated
			 by the national railroad passenger corporation.
Note: Vehicles operated on rails for pleasure or recreation
				include railcars, railroad motorcars, railroad handcars, and railroad speeder
				cars.
(9) "FRA" means the
			 federal railroad administration of the United States department of
			 transportation.
(10) "Improved
			 property" means the rails, joint bars, ties, ballast, bridges, culverts,
			 drainage structures, and buildings acquired by the department, or by a
			 commission with a grant from the department.
(11) "Municipality" means a county, city,
			 town, village or organization established under s.
			 66.0301,
			 Stats.
(12) "Operating agreement"
			 means a contract between a commission and an operator providing for rail
			 service on state-owned railroad property.
(13) "Operator" means the person under
			 contract to a commission to provide freight rail service on state-owned
			 railroad property.
(14) "Permittee"
			 means the person who submits an application and who receives a
			 permit.
(15) "Person" means an
			 individual, a partnership, an association, and bodies politic or
			 corporate.
(16) "Sponsor" means the
			 person who shall earn any profit made by the excursion train or who shall
			 suffer any loss incurred by the excursion train.
(17) "State-owned railroad property" means
			 improved property acquired by the department either on its own under authority
			 of ss.
			 85.08
			 and
			 85.09,
			 Stats., or in conjunction with a municipality under authority of s.
			 85.08,
			 Stats.
(18) "STB" means the federal
			 surface transportation board, which has regulatory authority over railroads, or
			 any other governmental agency that assumes its authority and
			 responsibilities.