Railroad Crossing Insurance Question

[onthebay]

Does anyone have any exprience with private crossings over the Scenic Railroad tracks? Anybody that lives along the west side of Merideth Bay or Paugus Bay and has to cross the tracks to get to land or docks on the water?
How bad is the process to get an official crossing? I have the paperwork and it seems straight forward. It looks to cost about $2,500.00 to have the railroads approved contractor build one.
The problem I am having is that the state wants a liability policy of 1 Million per occurrence and 2 Million aggregate covering the crossing. I thought I could add a rider to my homeowners but they said I had to have a commercial liability policy at about $2,000.00 per year. Does anyone know if this is true or should I change insurance companies. Does anyone know who might be experienced with this type of insurance...Thx

[Grady223]

Not sure what you're doing (are you building a RR?) but -

Melcher & Prescott Insurance Agency
426 Main Street
Laconia, NH 03246
Tel: (603) 524-4535
E-mail: insure@melcher-prescott.com
- or -
954 Whittier Highway
Moultonboro, NH 03254
Tel: (603) 476-8000
Email: moultonboro@melcher-prescott.com

Is a good agency, in your neck of the woods - they should be able to help you.

[Belmont Resident]

I originally had Melcher & Prescott insurance co, and although they were wonderful to deal with, when I had a problem with the actual provider which was Travelers they did absolutely nothing to help me out. They out and out refused to help.
As it turned out Travelers was in the wrong. A letter to a Better Business cleared it up and they were found to be in the wrong.
Munsey & Brazil found me a provider which gives me better coverage then MP at a lower yearly rate.
Munsey & Brazil 603-524-2425

To get back to your problem onthebay. Remember what you are asking for is a specialty policy mainly used only by commercial business such as Southdown boat club. In this application the total cost is broken down and passed on to the slip owners so it is minimal. Unfortunately the insurance company can pretty much charge you whatever they want to for a policy of this sort.
My wife has the same problems when searching for commercial insurance for her boat for doing weddings on the lake.

[songkrai]

I think the area is called Neil Shores or Neal Shores. Where the homes are on the east side of the tracks. Between the Weirs and Meredith. You could ask one of those homeowners. Maybe that is a town road that crosses the tracks and a completely different issue then a driveway.

On a slightly different issue I do know that building a driveway bridge over any small stream or river can be a mountain of paperwork. On this matter I know of a person who wished to do this. It was a very small stream/river - very small. But the paperwork he was given was intense. BUT, when the local snowmobile chapter wanted to construct a snowmobile bridge over same, it went quite quickly and smoothly. Interesting how the state works in this regard.

[LadyJane]

the people on Needle Eye Rd., Meredith have deeded access to the lake, a small but lovely little beach, and they do indeed have to walk across the tracks to get to it. Doesn't the scenic railroad lease the tracks for "x" amount of years? Will that stretch of tracks eventually be rails to trails walkway too?

[PapaBarnCat]

Originally Posted by onthebay

Does anyone have any exprience with private crossings over the Scenic Railroad tracks? Anybody that lives along the west side of Merideth Bay or Paugus Bay and has to cross the tracks to get to land or docks on the water?
How bad is the process to get an official crossing? I have the paperwork and it seems straight forward. It looks to cost about $2,500.00 to have the railroads approved contractor build one.
The problem I am having is that the state wants a liability policy of 1 Million per occurrence and 2 Million aggregate covering the crossing. I thought I could add a rider to my homeowners but they said I had to have a commercial liability policy at about $2,000.00 per year. Does anyone know if this is true or should I change insurance companies. Does anyone know who might be experienced with this type of insurance...Thx

Hmmmm.. "Official crossing", as in a public crossing? Would the State be a named insured? I used to work for a "specialty insurance" broker. I'd be happy to e-mail my old contacts to try to help you, but I'll probably need a lot more info. Just off the top of my head, who owns the tracks, who would be the primary insured, any named insureds, nature of business of the primary insured, nature of business of the primary insured at that location, who operates the railroad, and probably more. 2K a year sounds a bit high. I wonder if that is contractor's liability during construction. This has me interested, although you'll probably get faster results if you talk to an agency that has "specialty" insurance as an advertising point. If I can help, mailto:will_emerson@verizon.net

[onthebay]

The crossing would be a private crossing. The state has specifications for a wooden pedestrian crossing. My house is on one side of the tracks and I own a small piece of property on water side that has a small beach and docks on Paugus Bay. The crossing would be a walkway from one side of the tracks to the other. It is technically illegal to cross the railroad tracks without an official crossing.

The state requires the railroad and the state to be named as additional insured.

I am sure others that you mentioned have had to deal with this. Hopefully some of them belong to the forum...

[PapaBarnCat]

Was in contact with a friend at a brokerage. She wasn't sure. However I think I've found something. These people have a private crossing program for Railroad Protective Liability. http://www.railroadprotectivesolutio...liability.aspx. Not sure if they would retail but if not, have your agent contact them. Can't hurt to call them.
Phone: (877) 551-1677
Fax: (888) 972-7831

[onthebay]

Thanks I will give them a call.

[PapaBarnCat]

Please advise how you make out. If unsuccessful, I will gladly continue research.

[olimec]

I have a very good friend who recently finished building a home which required his driveway cross the tracks. I will find out what he paid for his permit and ins. requirements. He had no troubles getting the permits and never mentioned any obscure ins requirements but I know he had a heap of trouble when he was ready to sell recently. Buyer's real estate attorney was a bear and the state was not cooperative or quick about delivering the crossing easements. Was a nightmare for a few weeks. I'll get some specifics.

[PapaBarnCat]

Please let us know if the trackage your friend's driveway crossed was actively in use, and by which railroad. Most railroads are unbelievably fussy about anything happening along their right of way and require RPL if you're doing anything these days. I think even ants need it to build a hill. Everyone figures the railroad has deep pockets and sues the railroad at the drop of a hat, so this is one way they protect themselves.

[onthebay]

Originally Posted by olimec

I have a very good friend who recently finished building a home which required his driveway cross the tracks. I will find out what he paid for his permit and ins. requirements. He had no troubles getting the permits and never mentioned any obscure ins requirements but I know he had a heap of trouble when he was ready to sell recently. Buyer's real estate attorney was a bear and the state was not cooperative or quick about delivering the crossing easements. Was a nightmare for a few weeks. I'll get some specifics.

Where was the crossing? was it on Winnipesaukee. Is it possible to send me your friends name. I am running into similar issues with the sale of our home and hope I could get some first hand information...thx

[AC2717]

Are they requiring you to maintain the insurance policy after it is done or only while it is being built? (this makes a huge difference). If just during building it would be very simple to get and possibly cheaper than $2,000 annually

Your home liability would cover any liability on property you own at the address listed on the policy, unless it is specifically excluded. Now you would have a very hard time naming the state and RR as additional insureds on a homeowners liability policy due to the circumstances at hand.

If you need to maintain the policy after it is built at a $1,000,000/$2,000,000 limits then there is no way to keep that personal except to possibly get a personal umbrella policy over your homeowners liability for $2,000,000. just because they would want that aggregate limit of $2,000,000

Again a couple of factors come into play here

PM me if you would like to discuss further
Thanks

[onthebay]

Originally Posted by AC2717

Are they requiring you to maintain the insurance policy after it is done or only while it is being built? (this makes a huge difference). If just during building it would be very simple to get and possibly cheaper than $2,000 annually

Your home liability would cover any liability on property you own at the address listed on the policy, unless it is specifically excluded. Now you would have a very hard time naming the state and RR as additional insureds on a homeowners liability policy due to the circumstances at hand.

If you need to maintain the policy after it is built at a $1,000,000/$2,000,000 limits then there is no way to keep that personal except to possibly get a personal umbrella policy over your homeowners liability for $2,000,000. just because they would want that aggregate limit of $2,000,000

Again a couple of factors come into play here

PM me if you would like to discuss further
Thanks

I sent you a PM.