Section Trans 31.02 - DefinitionsIn 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.Wis. Admin. Code Department of Transportation Trans 31.02
Cr. Register, June, 1995, No. 474, eff. 7-1-95; renum. (1), (10) and (11) to be (1m), (11) and (12), cr. (1), (5m), (12) and (18), r. and recr. (8), r. (10), Register, May, 1999, No. 521, eff. 6-1-99; correction in (11) made under s. 13.92(4) (b) 7, Stats., Register March 2012 No. 675.