Feds move to boost railway crossing safety

The Department of Transportation is moving to boost the safety of railroad crossing intersections after a pair of recent commuter train crashes. 

The agency said Monday that its Federal Railroad Administration is launching a new campaign to warn drivers about the dangers of entering railway crossings when trains are approaching. 

{mosads}“The first phase calls upon local law enforcement agencies to increase their visibility at grade crossings and issue citations to drivers that violate rules of the road at crossings,” the agency wrote in a blog post on its website. 

“Subsequent phases will deploy smarter uses of technology, increase public awareness of grade crossing safety, support improved signage, strengthen partnerships with states and local safety agencies, and call for new rail crossing safety funding,” the blog post continued. 

The federal action follows accidents on New York’s Metro-North and California’s Metrolink commuter railways that involved collisions between trains and automobiles. 

The accidents have raised concern among lawmakers about the safety of U.S. public transit systems, but transportation department officials said the number of train accidents involving has actually declined in recent years. 

The agency said there was still a lot of work to do to boost railway crossing safety, however. 

“Although the number of deaths and injuries from grade crossing incidents has dropped significantly over the last two decades, there are more than 250,000 grade crossings in America, and more than half of those are public at-grade crossings, the kind that drivers typically encounter,” the agency wrote. “Only half of those have automatic-warning systems, and only a third have the flashing lights and gates that we often associate with rail crossings.” 

Acting Federal Railroad Administrator Sarah Feinberg said a big part of the problem was drivers not following warning signs that are posted near railroads at junctions like the sites of the New York and California crashes. 

“This remains a serious problem,” Feinberg said. “We can and should be doing everything we possibly can to keep drivers, pedestrians, and train crews and passengers safe at grade crossings.” 

The transportation department said “more than 60 percent of train-vehicle collisions actually occur at crossings with some sort of automatic warning system.” 

“That indicates that drivers are not exercising enough caution when warnings are activated. And that’s why more visibility from law enforcement and stepped-up public awareness efforts are a good place to start the FRA’s new campaign,” the agency wrote.