SEPTA Lands Grade Crossing Safety Grant

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded $40 million in grants to five states, including Pennsylvania, to fund projects seeking to improve safety at grade crossings.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority received $3,335,000 to install new gate systems at three crossings and pavement markings at 20 crossing locations in Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

Other grants were awarded to public transit agencies in California, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington.

The funds came from the Commuter Authority Rail Safety Improvement Grants Program  and were awarded by the Federal Highway Administration in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration.

To be eligible for a grant, a commuter authority must have experienced at least one accident investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2018, and for which the NTSB issued an accident report.

FRA Publishes Grade Crossing Safety Plan Rule

The Federal Railroad Administration has issued its final rule that requires states to create plans to improve safety at railroad grade crossings,

The rule, which is mandated by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, requires 40 states and the District of Columbia to create a safety improvement plan for every crossing that has been the site of at least one accident or incident in the past three years, multiple accidents in the past five years, or is determined by the state to be at high risk for accidents.

Ten states – Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas – will be required to update their existing plans and submit reports describing their implementation efforts.

These states had the most grade-crossing accidents between 2006 and 2008 and were required to develop plans under a 2010 FRA rule.

The deadline for the plans is no later than 14 months after the rule’s Dec. 14 publication in the Federal Register.

2 Federal Agencies Launch Grade Crossing Safety Campaign

Two federal agencies have teamed up to launch a national railroad grade crossing safety campaign.

The Federal Railroad Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are overseeing the $6.6 million campaign has been titled “Stop. Trains Can’t.”

The campaign will use radio and online messages to raise public awareness that many fatalities at highway-railway crossings are preventable

A news release noted that over the past five years 798 people have been killed at grade crossings.

Targeted in the campaign, which will run through Nov. 8, are drivers in Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas.