FasTracks proponents told a Senate committee Monday that freight railroads need immunity from liability in the event of a commuter-rail accident if RTD’s $4.7 billion rail expansion is to move forward.
Senate Bill 219, which limits the liability of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads if they allow passenger trains in their corridors, is “absolutely pivotal for the buildout of the FasTracks program,” Regional Transportation District chief Cal Marsella told members of the Senate Judiciary committee.
FasTracks rail lines to Arvada/Wheat Ridge, Boulder/Longmont, Denver International Airport and north Adams County were planned to run in BN and UP freight corridors when metro-Denver voters approved the FasTracks tax in November 2004.
But in January 2005, a fatal accident near Los Angeles involving an sport utility vehicle, commuter-rail trains and a freight train led the Burlington Northern in particular to demand immunity from liability for accidents involving passenger rail, officials said.
Testifying before the Judiciary Committee, Broomfield Mayor Karen Stuart said SB 219 is “critical to the implementation of passenger rail for the region.”
The train to Boulder/Longmont will run through Broomfield, and the only route identified to date largely uses Burlington Northern right of way.
The preferred routing for the Gold Line train to Arvada and Wheat Ridge also relies largely on BN right of way for electrified commuter rail.
Arvada City Council member Lorraine Anderson, testifying in favor of the bill, said the other identified option of using streetcars “basically cuts ridership in half” when compared with commuter rail.
Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, asked whether the bill would absolve rail operators if an accident involved “criminal activity.”
RTD’s Marsella told senators the measure gives freight railroads “blanket indemnity” from civil liability if there is an accident involving passenger rail, even if the freight carrier is responsible in a “willful or wanton” fashion for the accident.
The theory behind the demand of the freight railroads for such immunity is that the accident would not have happened “but for” the presence of passenger rail, he said.
“I’m not crazy about carrying this bill, but I don’t see any alternative,” said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, a sponsor of the measure.
Senators on the Judiciary Committee unanimously approved SB 219 and passed the measure on to the full Senate.
The bill is “essential if we are to keep our moral commitment to voters who supported FasTracks,” said Denver City Councilman Rick Garcia. “We didn’t create this. We’re just trying to clean up the mess the railroads brought to us after the vote.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
