(1) (a) Telltales shall not be required except to the extent required under federal law and except as provided in par. (b). (b) If the office finds that the absence of a telltale would create an unreasonable risk of harm to the public or a railroad employee on a railroad not under the jurisdiction of the federal railroad administration, the office may enter an order requiring the installation of a telltale. A telltale shall be ordered by the office according to the hearing procedure provided under sub. (4). (2) The office may determine the materials for and the construction and placing of such telltales. (3) After December 31, 1993, no overhead structure shall be constructed or reconstructed, not including ordinary repairs necessary for maintenance, which shall have a vertical clearance of less than 23 feet above the top of rail, except as provided in sub. (4). (4) Upon finding that any such structure will not imperil life or limb, and that the public interest requires or permits such structure to be constructed or reconstructed otherwise than as permitted by sub. (3), the office may exempt such structure from such provision. Such findings shall be made only upon written application, setting forth fully the grounds therefor and shall be made only after public hearing held upon notice to all interested parties except that, if no objection is filed with the office within 20 days of the notice, the office may require the installation of a telltale without hearing. The findings and order requiring the installation of a telltale shall be in writing and contain complete provisions and requirements as to the vertical clearance to be maintained in such construction or reconstruction. Such structure shall be constructed or reconstructed only in compliance with such order. (5) Prior to July 1, in each year every corporation operating a railroad within the state shall file with the office a verified statement showing the location of every such bridge or other structure over any of its tracks at a height of less than 23 feet above the top of rail, together with a statement showing whether or not the provisions of this section have been fully complied with. (6) An employee of a railroad corporation who is injured by or because of the existence of any bridge, or other structure over, above or across any of the tracks of said railroad at a height less than that provided in this section, which has not been protected by telltales, shall not be considered to have assumed the risk of such injury, although the employee continues in the employ of such corporation after the existence of such unguarded structure has been brought to the employee’s knowledge.
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