It’s not often that an independent agent is unfamiliar with the ins and outs of general liability insurance.

Could you say the same for one of the market’s most rapidly expanding subsets?

The general liability market will likely remain flat for the foreseeable future, despite some insurers pushing for slight rate increases, says Tom Marchetti, vice president of Ames & Gough. “Obviously exposure changes and losses play into that as well,” he says. “But overall, we’re seeing relatively flat renewals—flat to 2%.” That’s a stark contrast to general liability rates three or four years ago, when “insurers were a little more aggressive in taking rate,” Marchetti explains. “They’re kind of laying off.”

But if the market is fairly stagnant for general liability as a whole, it’s booming for contractors doing work within 50 feet of a railroad. And that description might apply to more clients than you realize.

“Just to give you an example of where you would never expect to need a railroad protective policy—a general contractor is renovating a building lobby and there’s a subway tunnel running underneath the building,” explains Sarah Rosenholtz of the Travelers Construction Railroad Protective Unit.

That means agents must be prepared to offer and secure railroad protective liability for a larger spread of their commercial clients. “We’ve seen a lot of increase in infrastructure work and other construction work across the country, so that does create more of a need for this coverage in more places,” Rosenholtz explains. “It’s certainly not shrinking.”

As the U.S. continues to recover from the Great Recession, “we are starting to see certain areas of development, and one of the areas is infrastructure projects,” agrees Cate Whiddon, vice president and railroad practice leader at ACE Westchester. “In different cities around the nation, we can all see the different transit systems that are expanding tracks and making improvements. We’re seeing a huge growth in this area as infrastructure projects spread out.”

Expansion of the railroad protective liability niche will be associated with developments that have a significant impact on the insureds requiring the coverage. For example, the most common limits for railroad protective liability policies are $2 million/$6 million, but Rosenholtz says she’s noticed an increase in requests for higher limits—“$5 million/$10 million and sometimes higher,” she says. “The proportion is changing a little bit.”

Moving forward, you can also expect more activity from contractors who are laying fiberoptic cables, which must often be laid directly under the track, Rosenholtz says. “Sometimes it’s just a few days of work and it’s a small cost, but they still need railroad protective coverage.”

It’s a refrain that will only become more common in the years ahead: “There’s always going to be a need for railroad protective coverage,” Whiddon says.

For tips on how to make sure you’re on top of your game in the railroad protective liability niche, keep an eye on IAmagazine.com and upcoming issues of the Markets Pulse e-newsletter.

Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.