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U.S.Department of Transportation Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C. www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm News

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Public Invited to Comment on Safety at Private Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

Contact: Steve Kulm or Warren Flatau
Telephone: 202-493-6024

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 (Washington, DC) In a new national effort to improve safety and save lives at private highway-rail grade crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is holding the first of a series of public meetings on Wednesday, August 30 in Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

The purpose of the meeting is to gather information to help FRA better understand the safety issues at locations where private roadways cross over railroad tracks used by freight and passenger trains. Approximately 400 vehicle-train collisions and 30 to 40 fatalities occur at the nation’s 94,000 private crossings each year.

Since private crossings are not subject to the same federal rail safety regulations that public crossings are, FRA is seeking comments on several topics, including: how to define when a private crossing has a public purpose; how improvement and maintenance costs should be allocated; whether current warning devices for motorists are adequate; and should there be a more uniform State or Federal approach to improving safety at private crossings.

In addition, establishing responsibility for safety at private crossings is one of the primary goals of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Highway-Rail Grade Crossing and Trespass Prevention Action Plan issued in 2004. Increased focus on private crossings will complement FRA’s ongoing comprehensive program to improve safety at public crossings.

The public meeting will be held Wednesday, August 30 at 9:30am at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Other meetings are scheduled in North Carolina, California and Louisiana later this year.

The FRA has also opened a public docket so that interested parties may submit written comments for public review and consideration. The public docket is available at http://dms.dot.gov, reference docket number 2005-23281.

More information can be found at http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1712.