RAILROAD PROTECTIVE LIABILITY COVERAGE FORM OVERVIEW

(November 2022)

INTRODUCTION

The Insurance Services Office (ISO) CG 00 35–Railroad Protective Liability (RPL) Coverage Form provides protective liability coverage for railroad owners from the vicarious acts of contractors or subcontractors that work under contract for them or on their behalf. It covers claims for bodily injury or property damage and for physical damage to certain railroad-related property that arise out of operations the designated contractor performs. The contractor or subcontractor that does the work purchases this coverage in the name of the railroad and for its benefit.

CG 00 35 consists of two distinct coverage parts. The first part protects the railroad from certain vicarious liability claims for bodily injury and property damage. The second part covers physical damage to its property. The coverage is very limited and specific to certain circumstances.

While the named insured is the railroad, it is not the party that purchases the coverage. The designated contractor that does the work on or near the railroad property buys the protection. The coverage provided applies to only the specific job location described on the declarations. Coverage ends when the job is finished or the policy expires, whichever happens first. Coverage does not apply to products or completed operations exposures.

This coverage is needed since it is insufficient to add the property owner/railroad as an additional insured on its Commercial General Liability (CGL) Coverage Form. Generally, the additional insured option is unacceptable for the following reasons:

Railroads always require separate coverage as part of their work contracts.
When a railroad is an additional insured on the CGL, the limits available to pay losses may be reduced by payments for other covered losses.
CGLs exclude all contractual liability except for specific listed contracts and this exclusion would apply to railroad-related contracts.

ELIGIBILITY

The Railroad Protective Liability Coverage Form does not have any specific eligibility requirements or references with respect to whether or not it applies to a given operation or business. Contractual requirements determine when this coverage is needed and its use is limited to specific circumstances. Since its definitions and coverages are limited to railroad property, the named insured must be a railroad. The contractor that performs the work on or near railroad property arranges for and purchases this coverage for the benefit of the railroad.

POLICY COMPOSITION

The ISO Railroad Protective Liability Coverage consists of the following basic parts or forms:

IL DS 00–ISO Common Policy Declarations

CG DS 04–Railroad Protective Liability Declarations

CG 00 35–Railroad Protective Liability Coverage Form

Policy Cover Page or Jacket. Individual insurance companies design this form for their own purposes. It may include a table of contents or index to meet the requirements of some states.
IL 00 21–Nuclear Energy Liability Exclusion Endorsement (Broad Form)

Note: IL 00 17–Common Policy Conditions is not attached to CG 00 35 because it includes those conditions.

CG 00 35–RAILROAD PROTECTIVE LIABILITY COVERAGE FORM

CG 00 35–Railroad Protective Liability Coverage Form includes the following sections:

Section I–Coverages:

Coverage A–Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability Insuring Agreement and Exclusions
Coverage B–Physical Damage to Property Insuring Agreement and Exclusions
Supplementary Payments–Coverage A

Section II–Who Is An Insured
Section III–Limits of Insurance
Section IV–Conditions. This section includes the conditions usually found in only IL 00 17–Common Policy Conditions.
Section V–Definitions

Compare: CG 00 35–Railroad Protective Liability Coverage Form to CG 00 01–Commercial General Liability Coverage Form

CG 00 35–Railroad Protective Liability Coverage Form Analysis

AVAILABLE ENDORSEMENTS

The coverage CG 00 35 provides is relatively narrow and only a limited number of endorsements are available to use with it.

UNDERWRITING

Underwriting Railroad Protective Liability Coverage involves identifying potential exposures, analyzing them relative to the degree of risk represented by each, classifying the risk, and then rating and pricing the exposures correctly.

RATING

Rating Railroad Protective Liability Coverage is detailed in Rule 49 in the General Liability section of the ISO Commercial Lines Manual (CLM). The classifications eligible for use and their application are listed along with footnotes, instructions, and explanations.