Section 29.03. Definitions.

  In this chapter:

(1)  "AREA" means the American railway engineering association, manual for railway engineering, chapter 1, part 5, revised in 1993.

(2)  "Cable" means either a stranded conductor or a combination of conductors insulated from each other.

(3)  "Carrier" means a pipe, pipeline or other container carrying or otherwise conveying a liquid, gas or other material, not including electric current or impulses.

(4)  "Casing" means a protective outer covering, separate from the carrier, designed to withstand external forces equal to or greater than the carrier.

(5)  "Circuit" means a conductor or system of conductors through which electric current or light can flow or travel.

(6)  "Conduit" means channels or tubes for enclosing and protecting communication or electric power lines.

(7)  "Department" means the Wisconsin department of transportation or any successor to that department charged by law with administering Wisconsin's railroad programs.

(8)  "Department railroad property" means railroad property or rail or land bank property owned, controlled or possessed by the department.

(9)  "Duct" means a tube or pipe designed or used for enclosing and protecting wire or cable underground.

(10)  "Installation" means the initial placement of a utility facility upon, over, under or within department railroad property.

(11)  "Modification" includes changing or adjusting the physical location or capacity of an existing utility facility located on department railroad property by such actions as placing additional overhead wires; replacing existing overhead wires with higher voltage wires; changing the existing placement of poles, pedestals or other above-ground appurtenances; or replacing underground carrier pipes or casings.

(12)  "Pipeline" means a utility facility installed to carry or convey a fluid, gas or other material underground and includes the casing and the carrier.

(13)  "Plowing" means a mechanical technique for direct burial of a carrier, duct or cable in a furrow or groove cut into the ground by a single operation, without any intervening activity between the cutting of the furrow or groove and the burial of the carrier, duct or cable.

(14)  "Railroad facility" means track, ties, drainage structure, bridge or related items used for existing or for anticipated railroad operations.

(15)  "Rail or land bank property" means railroad property or facilities owned, controlled or possessed by the department for future rail or other transportation purposes and on which there is no current railroad operator.

(16)  "Railroad operator" means a railroad carrier that provides rail service over a department railroad property or that is under an agreement with a transit commission to provide rail service over the department's railroad property.

(17)  "Railroad property" means land, usually a strip, used in the operation, maintenance or construction of a railroad.

(18)  "Routine maintenance" includes work concerning the normal upkeep and servicing of a utility facility and includes those utility facility changes not defined as an installation or modification.

(19)  "Separate utility installation" means a distinct utility activity or service.

(20)  "Track zone" means:

(a) The track structure, including, but not limited to, the rails, ties or fastenings; and

(b) The substructure upon which the track is located, including, but not limited to, the ballast, subballast or embankment, extending out from the track centerline a minimum of 12 feet on either side. In the following circumstances, however, the track zone extends beyond the 12 foot minimum on either side of the track centerline:

1. In embankments, the outer boundary of the track zone is the toe of the embankment slope, which is the intersection of an embankment slope with the ground surface; and

2. In cuts, the outer boundary of the track zone is the intersection of the plane of the roadbed with the cut slope.

(21)  "Transit commission" means a local government commission formed under s. 59.58 (3) , 66.0301 , or 66.1021 , Stats., for the purpose of preserving rail service.

(22)  "Utility" means:

(a) Any corporation, company, individual or association, including their lessees, trustees or receivers, or any sanitary district, cooperative association, town, village or city that owns, operates, manages or controls any plant or fixed equipment within this state for the conveyance of messages or for the production, transmission, delivery or furnishing of power, electricity, light, heat, gas, oil, crude products, water, steam, waste or storm water.

(b) The owners, operators, managers, or controllers of cable television systems, publicly owned fire or police signal systems, traffic and street lighting facilities, or private utilities.

(23)  "Utility facility" means all physical components of a utility located upon, over, under or within the department railroad property.

(24)  "Utility permit" or "permit" means the document by which the department grants a utility permission to use or occupy department railroad property.

Cr. Register, December, 1985, No. 360 , eff. 1-1-86; r. and recr. (1), am. (4), (8), (18) and (19), Register, January, 1999, No. 517 , eff. 2-1-99; corrections in (21) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7. , Stats., Register March 2012 No. 675 .

Note

The Manual for Railway Engineering, Chapter 1 , Part 5, is on file at the offices of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Secretary of State, and the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Railroads and Harbors. Copies of this publication can be obtained by writing to the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance Association, 50 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1