Introduction and acknowledgements:

Thank you Jessica (Franklin) for that kind introduction.

I also want to thank Dr. Stephen Roop, TTI’s Multimodal Freight Transport Program Director for extending to me the invitation to speak with you this morning.

I’m always happy to be back in Texas. Some of you may know that before moving to the Washington, D.C. area to serve under President Bush and Transportation Secretary Mineta, my family and I lived in Austin, where I worked for then-Governor Bush, as his Senior Transportation Policy Advisor.

I have really enjoyed my time so far at the Federal Railroad Administration. The railroad industry is made up of great folks from all across the nation, and I have truly enjoyed meeting so many of them.

This is also the first job I’ve ever had where I had a fan base! There are so many people throughout the country who are passionate about trains. Knowing that so many people are watching what we do certainly is a humbling experience.

I’m also really pleased to appear before you at this important bi-annual gathering.

Some of my transportation background and expertise is in highways, so I’m naturally interested in the highway-rail connection.

Grade crossings are also very important to my family. We live in an old railroad town in Northern Virginia, Manassas. It still has an intersection of east-west and north-south routes for the Norfolk Southern, and so many of the roads we travel daily cross railroad tracks.

NS has spent a bunch of money smoothing out a tough curve and moved its crew change point out of town, so that I expect to get fewer calls from my wife, wondering why the FRA Administrator can’t do anything about her blocked crossings. So for the NS guys in attendance, please let Mr. Tobias know how much I appreciate that completed project!

Before I begin addressing the numerous substantive issues of mutual interest to us all, I briefly want to acknowledge some members of our FRA team.

Grady Cothen, our Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards, one of our key leaders in our Office of Safety, is here to listen, learn and share in your discussions.

Ron Ries, Staff Director of our Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety and Trespass Programs Division is here, as are his staff members, and some of our Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Managers; who…..trust me; will make themselves known to you if they haven’t already.

These are some of our most dedicated, creative and enthusiastic team members, and I get energized just being around them!

Message from the President

Before I get into speaking about grade crossing issues, let me offer some information about an issue about which you all likely have just as much interest—the state of our nation’s economy.

Last week, we learned that the nation’s economy grew at a phenomenal 7.2 percent rate in the third quarter of 2003, the highest growth since 1984. This improved over the second quarter’s already steady growth of 3.3 percent. President Bush’s Jobs and Growth tax relief package has helped fuel this surge in economic activity, which increases incomes and living standards for American workers.
This good news adds to other promising indicators of economic strength: -Disposable income is up 5.8 percent at an annual rate in 2003. -US home ownership is at its highest level ever. -Productivity growth remains strong and orders of manufacturing goods have been increasing since earlier in the year. -Consumer confidence is well above levels seen just before the Iraq war. There are signs the labor market is starting to improve, such as the decline in new unemployment claims and September’s job growth figures.

This is certainly good news, but there is work to be done. President Bush will not be satisfied until every American who wants a job can find one. Our President will continue to fight for his six point economic plan to promote economic growth and jobs.

-Make health care costs more affordable and predictable. -Reduce the lawsuit burden on our economy. -Streamline federal regulations and reporting requirements for small businesses. -Open new markets for American products. -Enable families and businesses to plan for the future with confidence through extending current tax relief.

It’s an exceptional honor to serve this President and work for a statesman like Secretary Norman Mineta.

Many of you know Secretary Mineta’s experience, as Mayor of San Jose, CA, as a Congressman and a Committee Chairman who helped develop ISTEA in 1991. Throughout this impressive career, Secretary Mineta has always understood how a safe, secure, reliable and efficient transportation system has powerful effects on our Nation’s economy.

Our nation’s transportation system makes it possible for people and goods to move in a global marketplace, it is one of the foundations of our continued economic success. I’m proud to be able to serve with such a respected public servant as Secretary Mineta in making a difference for the American people.

Educational Outreach Challenges and Opportunities:

In 2002, the number of highway-rail crossing collisions was the lowest ever recorded!

3073 collisions 998 injuries 356 fatalities
These results affect our agency’s performance goals, and reflect Secretary Mineta’s commitment to a DOT that focuses on results.

It also reflects the Secretary’s interests in making our transportation system safer. Secretary Mineta has challenged all DOT modes to bring down transportation related fatalities.

We remain vigilant in making further progress, because most, if not all of these accidents are preventable!

But let me take a moment to thank all of you for these exceptional results, because you are making a positive difference! As you continue to struggle to change behaviors, as you work through public and private sector bureaucracies to install safety improvements at crossings, as you make a presentation to a group of schoolchildren, as you take a police officer for a ride on the train, please remember how much your hard work is paying off! What you do makes a difference.

I don’t want to spend too much time today telling you all what you already know, but railroad trespassing is still the leading cause of rail-related deaths in America.

We still need to make some headway in combating this very unfortunate reality.

We know what a tremendous success Operation Lifesaver, Inc. has been. The remarkable progress that’s been made in crossing safety and trespass awareness could not have happened with out them.

The energy, passion and creativity of OL’s remarkable leadership and staff, its fantastic State Coordinators and phenomenal Volunteer Presenters is unmistakable.

OL has helped opened new doors; initiated new partnerships and SAVED LIVES!

We at FRA are committed to OLI.

So too are we committed to establishing closer links to the law enforcement and judicial communities; to help them see grade crossing and trespass violations as serious problems…….

To motivate them to more vigorously patrol highway-rail crossings, enforce existing state traffic safety laws; cite and prosecute violators; and adjudicate these types of cases with the seriousness they deserve.

Similarly, we must maintain and expand our commitment to working with the motor carrier community.

We must continue developing relationships with road user groups.

We need to explore building a closer relationship with the insurance industry that has a vested interest in keeping its policyholders from doing risky things.

Finally, we must work together to convince the advertising and entertainment industries to be sensitive to our concerns so that images developed for mass dissemination don’t needlessly mislead the public about the dangers at grade crossings and along rail rights of way.

Grade Crossing Safety Action Plan:

We are now at the halfway point for my part in this morning’s festivities. So, for those of you who have been riveted to your seat, listening with rapt attention, I’d offer you a brief moment to shift around in your chair, clear your throat, and change sections in the newspaper you’ve been reading.

Let me now tell you about an effort to update our Grade Crossing Safety Action plan.

The first Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Action Plan was presented by Secretary Pena on June 13, 1994.

The Action Plan’s stated goal was to achieve a fifty percent reduction in the number of accidents and fatalities over ten years.

FRA’s modal partners, FHWA, FTA, and NHTSA all contributed to the original Plan that identified 55 Initiatives in the following six categories to be undertaken by the U.S. DOT, states, and railroads.

-Enhance Enforcement of Traffic Laws at Crossings.

-Enhance Rail Corridor Crossing Reviews and Improvements.

-Expand Public Education and Operation Lifesaver Activities.

-Increase Safety at Private Crossings.

-Improve Data and Research Efforts.

-Prevent Rail Trespass Tragedies.

We have made substantial progress toward these action steps and toward our goals. Deaths are down 42% in 2002 from when the plan was adopted, incidents are down 37%, injuries are down 45%, and the grade crossing accident rate is down 44%. Since 1991, we have closed 45,000 crossings.

As part of the Conference Report for FRA’s FY 2003 appropriations bill, the U.S. Senate directed the Secretary to submit a revised Grade Crossing Action Plan with the Department’s FY 2005 budget request.

The new Action Plan will highlight lessons learned over past nine years and outline direction needed to advance HRC safety.

Guidance and direction is being provided by a steering committee of other DOT modes, coordinated by FRA.

In addition to DOT modes, the AAR, ASLRRA, APTA, RPI, TRB, commercial motor carrier and other allied organizations have contributed to the effort.

Input has also been received at FRA’s RSAC meetings, the Volpe Center Research Needs Workshop, AASHTO’s SCORT meeting, Grade Crossing regional workshops, Operation Lifesaver meetings, and other conferences.

Revisions and updates are still ongoing. The Action Plan is very much a work in progress.

The revised version must be submitted with FRA’s FY 2005 Budget Request.

Your feedback and input is welcome. In fact we are actively seeking it. Please share your experience and ideas.

New Action Plan Initiatives, Projects & Program Objectives:

Here are some of the program objectives we are considering for inclusion in the new plan.

Closure and Consolidation:

Create incentives to help local agencies and railroad companies facilitate crossing closures or consolidation.

Develop an approach to aid local governments emphasize the economic development benefits of closing redundant and unsafe crossings.

Develop and disseminate tools to enable state and local decision makers to succeed in efforts.

Engineering Improvements:

Standardize the use of innovative devices that utilize symbols, text, legends, and flash modes that are understood by the national community of road users.

Encourage and approve deployment of next generation treatments such as 4 quad gates and traffic channelization devices.

Encourage the use of pre-signals where appropriate;

Ensure proper interconnection of highway traffic signals; “Storage” is still an issue!

Evaluate and approve where possible innovative applications of traffic signal preemption near grade crossings.

Be mindful of possible future PTC and ITS applications.

Low Cost Safety Improvements:

We still need to develop, test, evaluate and foster implementation of low-cost safety improvements at passive crossings.

A problem we have encountered is the limited applicability of innovative devices. That is, no single low cost device lends itself to universal application.

Research continues to reveal that too many drivers don’t know what the X-shaped crossbuck sign means.

Therefore, we strongly support ongoing efforts to standardize the use of STOP or Yield signs at passive crossings.

Private Crossings: This is a real challenge that still needs to be addressed. Legal issues and liability are recurrent issues confronting railroads and property owners. We believe more input is needed from the wider highway-rail crossing safety community of experts.

We want to standardize signs and pavement markings for use at private crossings.

Private crossings should adhere whenever possible to “best practices” set forth by the MUTCD and in Technical Working Group proceedings.

Assessments of private crossings should take into account the same physical and operating considerations as public crossings.

“Hump” Crossings: As evidenced nearly once a week, high-profile crossings are still very problematic.

Low-slung vehicles can literally raise a train’s wheels off the rails. Because of their large size and mass, commercial motor vehicles carry with them an increased potential to cause derailments with the attendant risks.

The good news is that our efforts with OLI to reach commercial truck and bus drivers are succeeding.

FRA continues to sponsor Fly-Mapping research to identify such crossings and FHWA is developing an in-pavement clearance measurement device to record vertical alignment profiles.

Late Breaking News on the Regulatory Front:

As you know, FRA provides leadership for highway-rail grade crossing safety—in part—through our regulatory program.

During the 1990’s we implemented regulations for Inspection, Testing and Maintenance of Automated Warning Devices; and we required locomotives to be equipped with alerting lights—“ditch lights.”

This past Thursday, I signed the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Reflectorization of Freight Rolling Stock, which should be published in the Federal Register within the next few days. We believe this proposal can help increase train conspicuity at poorly illuminated crossings—particularly passively signed crossings—during periods of darkness or limited visability.

I want to thank railroads, car owners and others who have contributed their viewpoints on this concept and have already helped us make this a better proposal.

We look forward to receiving public comments, and in particular we urge the railroad industry to bring back suggestions for seamless and cost effective implementation strategies.

As I speak, our office is working with the Office of Management and Budget to facilitate their review of the interim final rule on Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Crossings.

We hope to publish that rule before the end of the calendar year. Of course, I’ve been saying that since I got here, as I was reminded the other day by a reporter from Chicago. The difference is, this time, we actually have a final product, not a process for developing a final product.

I think this group will be pleased with the results. It certainly reflects many suggestions and contributions from states and railroads.

Conclusion:

Once again, let me thank you for the invitation to address this important gathering.

First, this gives me the chance to talk about one of the critical issues affecting our agency’s performance goals.

Second, this gives me the opportunity to visit my home state. I got to go to Austin over the weekend and visit my mom, eat a lot of good Mexican food and barbecue. I got a chance to watch my (victorious/pathetic) Texas Longhorns on Saturday, and on Sunday watched the Cowboys-Redskins game from the standpoint of a deprogramming Cowboys fan.

It’s always good to be back in Texas, as the spirit of this State and of its people exerts a palpable force, like gravity (or humidity). I know why President Bush comes back here each August to be recharged with a stiff dose of “normal” after being in Washington for too long. I appreciate the chance to get away and get recharged too.

Thanks particularly for the gift of your attention. I’ll be around much of the morning if you want to talk about anything I said or didn’t say.

Thanks again, and best wishes for a very successful conference.