US Supreme Court decision blocks Oklahoma cities from ticketing traffic-blocking trains
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Oklahoma’s effort to revive a state law setting strict time limits on trains blocking city streets.
Without comment, the court declined to review a federal appeals court ruling in January that federal authority to regulate rail carriers and tracks trumps an Oklahoma law on blocked crossings.
Oklahoma urged the Supreme Court to take the case, arguing that federal appeals courts are split over which federal agency has authority over blocked crossings and that justices needed to sort out jurisdiction.
The BNSF Railway Company disputed the state’s contentions, saying the appeals court splits were “contrived and non-existent.”
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The company told justices that the ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was well reasoned and left Oklahoma “with a range of options to avoid delays at rail crossings. The STB (Surface Transportation Board) is also available to receive complaints and take action if necessary.” If the state didn’t like the federal policy, the solution was with Congress, not the Supreme Court, the company said.
Oklahoma in 2019 adopted law to fine trains that blocked traffic for more than 10 minutes
The Oklahoma law was approved by the state Legislature in 2019 because of frequent complaints about the long stoppage times of trains at some crossings. The law, called the Blocked Crossing Statute, put a 10-minute limit on trains blocking streets and highways, though some exceptions were carved out.
About two weeks after the law went into effect, a BNSF train blocked a crossing in Davis for 38 minutes so another train could pass on the main line. The company was cited by a Davis police officer for violating the law. A day later, a BNSF train was cited in Edmond for blocking a crossing for 80 minutes to allow two other trains to pass. About two weeks later, the company was cited again in Edmond.
BNSF sued in federal court in Oklahoma City and sought temporary and permanent injunctions. U.S. District Judge Charles B. Goodwin granted both.
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“The Court does not conclude that any statute relating to blocked crossings is prohibited,” the judge said. “But a statute that tells railroad companies how long they may stop their trains — for whatever ends — intrudes on the territory reserved to the ICCTA (Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act).”
The Oklahoma attorney general’s office appealed to the 10th Circuit court, saying that long stoppages were creating dangerous situations.
The 10th Circuit court acknowledged the public safety issues but said they were “local public safety issues — not rail safety issues.”
The court said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled against an anti-blocking law in Texas because nothing in the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act “provides authority for a state to impose operating limitations on a railroad,” or regulate “a railroad’s economic decisions.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Supreme Court rejects Oklahoma efforts to revisit train crossings law
