§ 3636 — Passage of school buses across railroad crossings

§ 3636. Passage of school buses across railroad crossings. 1. No\nschool bus transporting pupils between home and school or between\nschools which such pupils regularly attend either within or outside the\ndistrict which operates or contracts for the operation of such bus, or\ntransporting pupils for any purpose within such district, shall cross\nrailroad tracks at grade except at a guarded railroad crossing, unless\nthe governing body of the school district which operates the bus or\ncontracts for the operation of the bus shall have adopted, at a regular\nmeeting after a public hearing thereon, a resolution by which it shall\nhave determined that the use of a route which would avoid an unguarded\nrailroad crossing by the school bus would be impracticable.\n A copy of any resolution adopted pursuant to the provisions of this\nsection shall be filed with the department of education and the\ndepartment of transportation at their respective offices in the city of\nAlbany.\n 2. For the purpose of this section, a guarded railroad crossing shall\nbe defined as follows:\n a. Any railroad crossing having automatic electrically operated gates\nthat meet the specifications for such gates in the rules and regulations\npromulgated by the department of transporation.\n b. Any railroad crossing where a member of the approaching train's\ncrew disembarks from the train which has stopped before the crossing and\npositions himself at the crossing to halt traffic while the train\npasses. Such procedure must be in accordance with the rules and\nregulations promulgated by the department of transportation.\n c. Any railroad crossing protected by an automatic warning signal\nwhich meets the specifications in the rules and regulations as\npromulgated by the department of transportation.\n d. Any railroad crossing protected by one or more persons serving as a\nrailroad crossing guard.\n 3. Each school district shall prepare and maintain a map indicating\nthe intersection with any unguarded railroad crossing of each route used\nby a school bus transporting students to and from school either within\nor outside the district, or for any purpose within the district, and\nshall make such map available for inspection by any resident of the\ndistrict at a place designated by the governing body of the district.\n 4. The commissioner of education shall have the authority to\npromulgate such regulations as he shall deem appropriate to implement\nthe provisions of this section.\n