N.Y. RRD Law § 71

§ 71. Duties imposed. It shall be the duty of every railroad\ncorporation operating its road by steam:\n 1. To lay, in the construction of new and in the renewal of existing\nswitches, upon freight or passenger main line tracks, switches on the\nprinciple of either the so-called Tyler, Wharton, Lorenz, or split-point\nswitch, or some other kind of safety switch, which shall prevent the\nderailment of a train, when such switch is misplaced or a switch\ninterlocked with distant signals.\n 2. To erect and thereafter maintain such suitable warning signals at\nevery road, bridge, or structure which crosses the railroad above the\ntracks, where such warning signals may be necessary, for the protection\nof employees on top of cars from injury.\n 3. To use upon every new freight car, built or purchased for use,\ncouplers which can be coupled and uncoupled automatically, without the\nnecessity of having a person guide the link, lift the pin by hand, or go\nbetween the ends of the cars.\n 4. To attach to every car used for passenger transportation an\nautomatic air-brake or other form of safety-power brake, applied from\nthe locomotive, excepting cars attached to freight trains, the schedule\nrate of speed of which does not exceed twenty miles an hour.\n 5. To provide each closed car in use in every passenger train owned or\nregularly used upon a railroad, with such tools as the commissioner of\ntransportation may require, to be placed where directed by the\ncommissioner.\n 6. To provide, in each passenger car, where the line of road shall\nexceed forty continuous miles in length, a suitable receptacle for\nwater, with a cup or drinking utensil attached upon or near such\nreceptacle, and to keep such receptacle, while the car is in use,\nconstantly supplied with cool water.\n Every corporation, person or persons, operating such railroad, and\nviolating any of the provisions of this section, except subdivision six,\nshall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars for each offense,\nand the further penalty of ten dollars for each day that it shall omit\nor neglect to comply with any of such provisions. For every violation of\nthe provisions of the sixth subdivision of this section every such\ncorporation shall be liable to a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each\noffense.\n