II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4906 

To establish a portal and database to receive and maintain information 

regarding blocked railroad-highway grade crossings and to require the 

Secretary of Transportation to evaluate the requirements of the railwayhighway crossings program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2020 

Mrs. FISCHER (for herself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a portal and database to receive and maintain 

information regarding blocked railroad-highway grade 

crossings and to require the Secretary of Transportation 

to evaluate the requirements of the railway-highway 

crossings program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. BLOCKED RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSS4 INGS PORTAL. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 

6 Railroad Administration (referred to in this section as the 

7 ‘‘FRA’’) shall establish and maintain a portal and corVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4906.IS S4906

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1 responding database through which the FRA shall receive 

2 information on blocked railroad-highway grade crossings 

3 as a 3-year pilot program. 

4 (b) CONTENTS.—The portal established pursuant to 

5 subsection (a) shall— 

6 (1) provide examples to users regarding com7 mon causes of blocked crossings, such as— 

8 (A) idling or moving trains; or 

9 (B) instances when lights or gates are acti10 vated when no train is present; 

11 (2) provide the complainant with the contact in12 formation for reporting a blocked crossing to the rel13 evant railroad; and 

14 (3) encourage the complainant to report the 

15 blocked crossing to the relevant railroad. 

16 (c) COMPLAINTS.—The portal established pursuant 

17 to subsection (a) shall be programmed to receive com18 plaints from the general public about blocked railroad19 highway grade crossings. Any complaint reported through 

20 the portal shall indicate whether the complainant also re21 ported the blocked crossing to the relevant railroad. 

22 (d) INFORMATION RECEIVED.—In reviewing com23 plaints received pursuant to subsection (c), the FRA, to 

24 the extent practicable, shall review the information reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:38 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4906.IS S4906

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1 ceived from the complainant to account for duplicative or 

2 erroneous reporting. 

3 (e) USE OF INFORMATION.—The information re4 ceived and maintained in the database established pursu5 ant to subsection (a) shall be used by FRA— 

6 (1) to assist the FRA in identifying the loca7 tions and potential impacts of frequent and long-du8 ration blocked railroad-highway grade crossings; 

9 (2) as a basis for outreach to communities, 

10 emergency responders, and railroads; and 

11 (3) to support collaboration in the prevention of 

12 incidents at railroad-highway grade crossings. 

13 (f) SHARING INFORMATION RECEIVED.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The FRA shall implement 

15 and make publicly available procedures for sharing 

16 any nonaggregated information received through the 

17 portal established pursuant to subsection (a) with 

18 the public. 

19 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

20 section may be construed to authorize the FRA to 

21 make publically available sensitive security informa22 tion. 

23 (g) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—If the information 

24 submitted to the portal established pursuant to subsection 

25 (a) is insufficient to determine the locations and potential 


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1 impacts of frequent and long-duration blocked railroad2 highway grade crossings, the FRA may collect, from the 

3 general public and from State and local law enforcement 

4 personnel, such additional information as may be nec5 essary to make such determinations. 

6 (h) LIMITATIONS.—Complaints, data, and other in7 formation received through the portal established pursu8 ant to subsection (a) may not be used— 

9 (1) to infer or extrapolate the rate or instances 

10 of crossings beyond the data received through the 

11 portal; or 

12 (2) for any regulatory or enforcement purposes 

13 except those specifically described in this section. 

14 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the estab15 lishment of the pilot program under subsection (a), the 

16 Administrator of the FRA shall submit a report to the 

17 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

18 the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and In19 frastructure of the House of Representatives that de20 scribes— 

21 (1) where, when, for how long, and what im22 pacts have resulted from frequent and long-duration 

23 blocked highway-rail grade crossings based on the 

24 information received through the portal established 

25 pursuant to subsection (a); 


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1 (2)(A) whether and how the FRA verified the 

2 accuracy of the complaints submitted to such portal; 

3 and 

4 (B)(i) if the portal continues to be the most ef5 fective manner through which to collect such infor6 mation; or 

7 (ii) if changes to the portal could improve its ef8 fectiveness; 

9 (3) how the FRA used the data compiled by 

10 such portal to assess the underlying cause and over11 all impacts of blocked crossings; and 

12 (4) the engagement of the FRA with affected 

13 parties in order to identify and facilitate solutions to 

14 any trends or problems identified by data received 

15 and maintained through the portal and cor16 responding database. 

17 (j) SUNSET.—The section shall have no force or ef18 fect beginning on the date that is 3 years after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 2. RAILWAY HIGHWAY CROSSING PROGRAM STUDY. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 

22 shall evaluate the requirements of the railway-highway 

23 crossings program authorized under section 130 of title 

24 23, United States Code, to determine whether— 


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1 (1) the requirements of the program provide 

2 States sufficient flexibility to adequately address 

3 current and emerging grade-crossing safety issues; 

4 (2) the structure of the program provides suffi5 cient incentive and resources to States and local 

6 agencies to make changes at grade crossing that are 

7 most effective at reducing deaths and injuries; 

8 (3) there are appropriate tools and resources to 

9 support States in using data-driven programs to de10 termine the most cost-effective use of program 

11 funds; and 

12 (4) any statutory changes are necessary to im13 prove the effectiveness of the program. 

14 (b) REPORT.—Not later than December 19, 2020, 

15 the Secretary of Transportation shall submit a report to 

16 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

17 of the Senate, the Committee on Environment and Public 

18 Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Transpor19 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

20 that describes the results of the evaluation under sub21 section (a), including any recommended statutory changes 

22 referred to in subsection (a)(4). 

Æ 


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