No person or officer of court operating any railroad or railway in this state engaged as a common carrier in the transportation of freight or passengers shall operate over its road, or any part thereof, in excess of 15 continuous miles, or suffer or permit to be run over the same, outside of yard switching limits, any passenger, mail or express train propelled by any form of motive power and consisting of four or more cars with less than a full passenger crew consisting of one engineer, one apprentice engineer, one conductor, one brakeman and one flagger. None of said crew shall be required or permitted to perform the duties of train baggage handler or express messenger while on such road. This section shall not apply to operations in which lesser crew requirements are established by agreement between the common carrier and the organizations representing railroad employees. [Formerly 764.110; 1997 c.249 § 258]