DART Right-of-Entry Insurance and Railroad Protective Requirements

DART notes that insurance requirements may vary with the location and nature of the work, then lists what it typically requires for construction projects. The schedule is detailed down to the endorsement form numbers, which makes it easier to compare with a contractor's current policies before the certificate is uploaded.

• Commercial general liability: $5,000,000 per occurrence, $5,000,000 general aggregate and $5,000,000 products-completed operations aggregate, with a contractual liability endorsement.
• Additional insured status for DART and its directors, officers, representatives, contractors, agents and employees on CG 2010 (ongoing operations) and CG 2037 (completed operations) or equivalent forms.
• A contractual liability endorsement removing exclusions for operations within 50 feet of a railroad, using CG 2417 or equivalent, and removal of any exclusions for XCU hazards.
• Primary and noncontributory wording on CG 2001 and waiver of subrogation on CG 2404, or equivalents.
• Auto liability: a combined single limit of at least $2,000,000 for owned, hired and non-owned vehicles, with CA 2070 deleting exclusions for work near a railroad, CA 2048 for additional insureds, CA 0449 for primary and noncontributory and CA 0444 for waiver of subrogation, or equivalents.
• Workers' compensation with statutory Texas benefits and employer's liability at $1,000,000 for each accident, $1,000,000 each employee for disease and $1,000,000 policy limit for disease, with a waiver of subrogation on WC 42 03 04 or equivalent.
• Thirty days' notice of cancellation or modification on each policy.

Railroad protective liability is a separate policy written for the railroad's benefit on the contractor's job, rather than another additional insured endorsement on the contractor's own general liability. DART's schedule reflects that: it states that DART and any railroads operating on the DART-owned corridor must be the Named Insureds on the policy. The contractor typically arranges and pays for it as a condition of the agreement.

The limits turn on whose property the work touches. For DART property, DART lists $2,000,000 per occurrence and $6,000,000 aggregate. For TRE and Madill property, it lists $5,000,000 per occurrence and $10,000,000 aggregate. A project that crosses or parallels more than one corridor may need its limits set by the highest tier involved, which is a question to settle with DART during application intake.

DART also names the parties that may need to be added, depending on the property used: Fort Worth Transportation Authority (d/b/a Trinity Metro), Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad, Fort Worth & Western Railroad Company, CPKC, BNSF Railway Company, Union Pacific Railroad Company and Herzog Transit Services, Inc. Every policy must be in a form satisfactory to DART and written by insurers with a Best's rating of A-/VIII or better.

DART charges a $500 nonrefundable application fee for any use of its property. Construction projects that need plan review add a $4,500 nonrefundable engineering review fee before DART will advance the application. The application fee is paid by check marked with the application number DART emails after a successful submission.

The $4,500 is a starting figure. DART warns that multiple engineering reviews, site visits or other work by its engineering consultants can bring additional charges, and that no license or right-of-entry agreement is issued until the full amount is paid. Clean first submissions matter for schedule as much as for cost.

Events and temporary uses follow a lighter schedule: general liability at $2,000,000 each occurrence with $4,000,000 in each aggregate, auto with a $2,000,000 combined single limit and the same $1,000,000 employer's liability limits. That schedule does not list railroad protective liability, so it is not a model for construction work.

DART sets two distance triggers. On the light rail system, the foul zone is the area within 15 feet of the centerline of any light rail track or within a 10-foot radius of the overhead catenary system. Contractors who could be inside it must provide DART-certified flaggers and roadway workers-in-charge at their own expense, complete DART's Rail Transit Roadway Worker Protection training and obtain Track Allocation Committee approval.

First-time RTRWP certification takes an 8-hour in-person class and an exam, and the card expires one year after issuance. Contractors execute an RTRWP agreement at least 30 days before the class and pay a $100 training fee for each participant; classes can be requested in Spanish. The Track Allocation Committee meets in person on Wednesdays at 11:00 AM, where the contractor presents the work. Requests go through DARTSpace only after approvals, an executed agreement and the safety steps are complete, and approved work is scheduled for the following work week or later.

On railroad track, the trigger is 25 feet. Contractors working that close must provide flaggers at their cost and arrange railroad roadway worker protection training through DART Railroad Management. Flagging and training are operating costs, not insurance, but they belong in the bid alongside the premium for the railroad policy.

Utility contractors meet DART's engineering requirements before they meet its insurance desk. DART publishes engineering checklists meant to align designs with its Design Criteria Manual and the AREMA manual, and completed checklists must be included in all application submittals. DART says it may apply requirements beyond those on the checklists.

Separate checklists cover electrical or communication cables beneath light rail track, beneath railroad track and above railroad track; pipelines carrying flammable or non-flammable substances beneath light rail or railroad track; drainage; and highway-railway crossings. The information on DART's Plan Data Information Sheet must appear on every drawing for an underground pipeline proposed on DART or TRE property.

Projects that pose a risk to current or future transit infrastructure may also require construction oversight and as-built verification. For a bore or jack-and-bore under track, that is where the XCU language in DART's general liability requirement becomes concrete: underground work can sit inside an exclusion that DART asks to be removed, so the policy wording deserves a close read before the certificate goes in.