What authority gave railroads the right of way at crossings?

redhotboxsoxfan

First, the railroads own the land that the road is crossing. Yes, going back to the 1800's the goverment deeded the land to the railroads. When roads which came after needed the cross the rails, the railroads were the ones who gave permission for this to happen.
Two, be real, trains cannot stop on a dime. Even commuter trains that only way about 100,000 lbs need time to stop. A freight train which can weigh in at 250,000 tons needs about 2.5 miles to come to a complete stop. There was a show on the other night on "Spike" where a freight train doing only 5 mph could not stop within a 1/2 because of the weight it was pulling.

Jessy

The authority of the immense abount of energy contained in a moving train, and how hard it is to stop.

speed and weight!!!!

dukalink6000

I would assume the ICC; besides, are you going to go mano-a-mano against a train?

notaclue

The government back in the 1800's to which the railroad still remains one of the most powerful entities in the US! Mess with them and they will skin you alive!

will79601

i dont know put your car on a rr track when a trains coming who's gonna move first it's a safety measure,how old are you?

gearnofear

Mass X Speed X accelleration. You try and stop 20,000 tons on a dime and then ask this question again. The Average train takes up to 2.5 miles to come to a complete stop. So when you talk about who has the right of way, the bigger mass always win.

Polymath

It's the laws of physics, and common sense.

A train is huge compared to a car. It's possible that a train, particularly a large freight train, to take several miles to come to a complete stop (and several more to reach normal speed again!).

So giving the railroad the right-of-way doesn't cost the other vehicles much except time. Giving the vehicles the right-of-way costs lives.

tommy44432

The federal government did. You would not believe the power the railroads wield in Washington!!!! I'm serious here...the RR's pretty much can do any damn thing they want. Ask Boardman, Ohio how they made out trying to prevent some unused track from being repaired and reopened. ALL the crossings that Boardman paved over...guess what they had to do....yes....UN-pave the crossings at THEIR cost. Don't mess with US railroads! lol

frigon_p

Lets say I have that authority and I give YOU the the right of way. Would you stay on that track waiting for the train to stop?

Ray M

probley the athority of 150 tons on weels ever see what one of them do to a car

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