HHmmmmm.....that's a good question, I drove down 32 late last week and saw a bunch of guys fishing there.

As for Amtrak.......they have trackage rights only, the rail is owned by New England Central Railroad......which is owned by Rail America in Florida. Amtrak would have no complaint, but all RR tracks are considered private property and trespassing is something they like to enforce when they can. A RR cop has Jurisdiction, but a regular LEO can enforce.

Just an FYI the tracks on the Rt 12 side are owned by P&W railroad, and they do enforce trespassing when there is an issue.

I fish the upper river a bit. On the rt 32 side the problem is the NDPU, they have cops on second shift who do not want anglers there, there is a State law about trespassing on RR tracks which they keep citing when they write tickets, the rumor mill is saying that the DA is dropping all charges if you go to the courthouse with the ticket.As far as the other side P&W railroad there is no problem, I fish several spots on their tracks and have talked to their people and have never had issues. Of course I don't park on the tracks or build fires on the tracks like some do... hhhmmmmmm think that might have something to do with that.? I have actually seen people who think they got right of way over a locomotive pulling freight cars. incredible, whats really bad about that most of all, those people reproduce.

There are apparently some misconceptions regarding access to rivers, ponds, LIS, etc. In tidal areas the public has the right to utilize the shoreline below the high tide mark, I've never heard of the high tide mark plus 3 feet. However, this does not give you the right to access the area over private property. If the areas where you are accessing fishing areas is public property owned by a town or the state and access is permitted then that's where you should access the water. If you have to cross railroad tracks you are trespassing. The railroad right of way is considered private property the same as your own property. I'm sure that if you owned a home on a river/lake/stream/LIS and people came across your property without permission, you would not appreciate it. Besides...it's illegal. You can not enter/cross someone's private property without their permission.

If you decide to cross the railroad tracks to fish just understand that you can be arrested. If the local PD/railroad police don't object, that's up to them.

For further info: http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2705&q=323792&depNav_GID=1635

A CO TOLD ME LAST YEAR IT IS OK TO CROSS TRACKS AT THE PD BECAUSE ONLY SLOW MOVING TRAINS PASS THEIR

Skip...u hit the nail on the head.

Slow or not......trespassing is trespassing.

I'm not sure but I think Amtraks speed thru there was 35 or 40 and either 20 or 25 for freight. None of my books cover that area.

Yes the RR's pay taxes. They are an entity of their own since the breakup of Conrail and others.

At grade crossings are a whole different animal...there are volumes of rules covering all aspects of an at grade crossing on a public highway. These rules apply to contruction, public access and even the operation of the T&E crews (Train and Engine) that operate over these. Any public access point would have to be in bulletins and on the employees timetable/rules book.

Most locos have a camera just for that reason and a black box so they know what the crew was doing when they took the bend blowing at speed and the car was on the tracks. We can be charged w/delaying a train if found not operating at track speed, oe worse over it.

All railroads are a heartless employer and have numerous lawyers that write these obsessive rules.

One of our 40 year guys was taken out of service (fired in our terminoligy) for 30 days cause he was seen crossing around a car that was on the tracks tied down (parked) and they said he was less than 25 feet when he did it.

There are stories of their own employees being on their property to take care of personal business (like putting a time claim in or a vacation request) and they slipped or fell and as they weren't actually performing service for the carrier, the carrier had them arrested for tresspassing.