North Carolina § 124-5 - 1. The Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Fund.

§ 124-5. 1. The Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Fund.

The Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Fund is a fund within the Highway Fund and administered by the Rail Division of the Department of Transportation. The Fund shall be used for the enhancement of freight rail service, short-line railroad assistance, and railroad-roadway crossing safety, which may include the following project types: Track and associated infrastructure improvements for freight service. Grade crossing protection, elimination, and hazard removal. Signalization improvements. Assistance for projects to improve rail access to industrial, port, and military facilities and for freight intermodal facility improvements, provided that funding assistance under this subdivision shall be subject to the same limits as that for short-line railroads under G.S. 136-44.39. Corridor protection and reactivation. Subject to federal or other state law, improvements to rail lines and corridors in this State and through portions of a bordering state for the purpose of connecting with the national railroad system. Other short-line railroad projects. The Fund may also be used to supplement funds allocated for freight rail or railroad-roadway crossing safety projects approved as part of the Transportation Improvement Program. History (2000-67, s. 7.2(a); 2005-276, s. 28.7; 2013-360, s. 34.14(g); 2015-241, s. 29.23; 2016-94, s. 35.21(a); 2019-231, s. 4.4(a).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2013-360, s. 34.14(e), provides: "The Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Fund is established within the Highway Fund." Session Laws 2013-360, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2013.'" Session Laws 2013-360, s. 38.2, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2013-2015 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2013-2015 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2013-360, s. 38.5, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2016-94, s. 39.7, is a severability clause. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2005-276, s. 28.7, effective July 1, 2005, added "The improvements may include the following project types:" at the end of the introductory paragraph of subsection (a); and added subdivisions (a)(1) through (a)(5). Session Laws 2013-360, s. 34.14(g), effective January 1, 2014, rewrote the section. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 29.23, effective July 1, 2015, added subdivision (5). Session Laws 2016-94, s. 35.21(a), effective July 1, 2016, added "short-line railroad assistance" following "freight rail service" in the second sentence of the section; and added subsections (6) and (7). Session Laws 2019-231, s. 4.4(a), effective July 1, 2019, rewrote the section heading, which formerly read "North Carolina Railroad Company dividends deposited to Highway Fund"; in the first sentence of introductory language, deleted "Any dividends of the North Carolina Railroad Company received by the State shall be deposited into" from the beginning, and inserted "is a fund."