Railroad crossing

I know this has been discussed here before, but there was recently an article in the mil journal sentinel about how the rr trespassing law affects sportsmen . Not sure how to post the link though . I live in this area , and see it personally . Some people ignore it , and others abide by it . After the recent Ido perch show , I think it shows the difficulty of accessing some of these locations . In a way I guess it helps the fish population , but also highlights how special interest groups control our politicians . Legislation has been drafted to address this situation , but was vetoed. For those that care about this situation , might be time to contact our local representative , and the gov . Elections are coming .

gotta be quick to get to them perch

Railroad right-of-ways are unique and allow them to have de facto control over huge tracts of land adjacent to their rights-of-way. If you are looking for politicians to blame start with Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland and McKinley. The rail roads have gotten special treatment for a very long time. Heck, they even have their own government run retirement plan. Kind of like Social Security but well funded and pays enough to retire on comfortably. Full retirement at 60 if you have 30 years in. Not a bad gig if you’ve got some flexibility in your life.

During The timeframe of the presidents you mentioned , it was legal to cross the tracks. Something changed in 2005 where the politicians felt the need to protect us from the dangers of crossing the tracks .

I wonder if any railroads cross indian land? It would be interesting to watch what unfolded if Indians claimed the railroads had to go around ceded territory.

I think it more of a liability issue with the railroads. BUT, they can still leak crude oil all over and spread coal dust thru municipalities and not feel compelled to clean up the mess without having some agency require them to.

Not sure it was legal so much as unenforced. Enforcement has been increasing for a while, I remember in the late 80s or early 90s losing access to a stretch of the Pere Marquette because we could no longer walk the tracks. Now the railroads can write trespassing tickets themselves. Having their own law enforcement is one of the special privileges they’ve had since the 19th century.

I can see the RR side. If they let people cross the tracks they create an attractive nuisance. Someone gets hurt and the RR gets sued. What’s needed is a law that indemnifies them so long as they don’t charge for the crossing and only if the ROW is across public land.

Bernard Campos wrote:

Not sure it was legal so much as unenforced

It was legal in WI until 2005,like Mike said…..Walker signed a budget bill with this put in and did not Veto it……There was a bill in 2016 but it never made it out of a Senate committee….
Since then the railroads own police (yes….they have them) can enforce it……
As far as I know it’s still ok on the MN side…..