II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1380 

To eliminate unsafe railway-road grade crossings, to enhance railroad safety 

through new safety technology, safety inspections, accident investigations, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11, 2005 

Mr. VITTER (for himself and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 

Works 

A BILL 

To eliminate unsafe railway-road grade crossings, to enhance 

railroad safety through new safety technology, safety inspections, accident investigations, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Railroad Safety Im5 provement Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RAILWAY-ROAD GRADE CROSSINGS. 

7 (a) ELIMINATION OF CROSSINGS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 20134 of title 49, 

9 United States Code, is amended— 
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1 (A) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and 

2 motorists at railroad grade crossings’’ after 

3 ‘‘rights of way’’; 

4 (B) by amending subsection (c) to read as 

5 follows: 

6 ‘‘(c) AUTOMATED VIDEO IMAGE ANALYSIS PILOT

7 PROGRAM.—(1) The Secretary of Transportation, in con8 sultation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad9 ministration, shall establish a pilot program in the 5 

10 States with the highest rates of collisions, injuries, and 

11 fatalities at highway-rail grade crossings that uses auto12 mated video image analysis technology to record violations 

13 by motorists at crossings equipped with automatic warn14 ing devices. 

15 ‘‘(2) There are authorized to be appropriated such 

16 sums as may be necessary to carry out the program estab17 lished under this paragraph (1).’’; and 

18 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(d) PLAN TO ELIMINATE HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE

20 CROSSINGS.—(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of 

21 enactment of this subsection, the Secretary of Transpor22 tation, in consultation with appropriate transportation of23 ficials of States and units of local government with juris24 diction over highway-rail grade crossings, shall submit, to 

25 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
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1 of the Senate, the Committee on Environment and Public 

2 Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Transpor3 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, 

4 a plan— 

5 ‘‘(A) for annually eliminating highway-rail 

6 grade crossings in the United States that, as of the 

7 date of enactment of this subsection— 

8 ‘‘(i) are considered by the Secretary of 

9 Transportation to pose a safety threat; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) have insufficient or outdated protec11 tive equipment; 

12 ‘‘(B) that includes guidelines for establishing 

13 new crossings, if necessary, through careful traffic, 

14 zoning, and land use planning; and 

15 ‘‘(C) that includes an estimate of the cost to 

16 carry out subparagraph (A). 

17 ‘‘(2) In determining the order for closing highway18 rail grade crossings under the plan developed under para19 graph (1), the Secretary shall give priority to crossings 

20 in States that are among the top 5 States in terms of— 

21 ‘‘(A) the number of accidents at highway-rail 

22 grade crossings per mile of railroad tract; 

23 ‘‘(B) the number of highway-rail grade cross24 ings with insufficient or outdated protective equip25 ment; or 
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1 ‘‘(C) the number of rail lines with a high vol2 ume of goods movement. 

3 ‘‘(3) In developing the plan under paragraph (1), the 

4 Secretary shall consider— 

5 ‘‘(A) the feasibility of closing and improving a 

6 group of highway-rail grade crossings in a single 

7 community; 

8 ‘‘(B) the impact of closure on access by emer9 gency vehicles; 

10 ‘‘(C) traffic delays; 

11 ‘‘(D) public inconvenience; and 

12 ‘‘(E) the willingness of units of local govern13 ment to participate in the elimination or consolida14 tion of highway-rail grade crossings.’’. 

15 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

17 Transportation shall update and reissue ‘‘A Guide to 

18 Crossing Consolidation and Closure’’, which was 

19 originally published in July 1994. 

20 (b) GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY21 HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSINGS.—Section 130 of title 23, 

22 United States Code, is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (d)— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘Each State’’ and inserting 

25 the following: 
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State’’; and 

2 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL SAFETY REVIEW.—Using infor4 mation compiled by States under paragraph (1), the 

5 Secretary of Transportation shall conduct a com6 prehensive review of the safety of all public railway7 highway grade crossings in the United States. The 

8 matters reviewed shall include security measures, 

9 safety conditions, past accidents, possible safety im10 provements, and any other factors that the Secretary 

11 considers relevant. 

12 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY LIST.—Based on the informa13 tion collected from the review conducted under para14 graph (2), the Secretary of Transportation shall 

15 compile, maintain, and submit to Congress a list of 

16 the 5,000 railway-highway grade crossings most in 

17 need of safety improvements, grouped based on rel18 ative need for such improvements.’’; 

19 (2) in subsection (f)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘and 50’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘25’’; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘States.’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘States, and 25 percent of such funds shall be 

24 apportioned to the States in the ratio that total 

25 highway and rail traffic through railway-high-
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1 way crossings in each State bears to the total 

2 of such traffic in all States.’’; 

3 (3) in subsection (i)(3)(B), by striking 

4 ‘‘$7,500’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000’’; 

5 (4) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub6 section (k); and 

7 (5) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(j) RAILWAY-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSING SAFETY

10 IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 

12 Transportation may award grants to States to make 

13 necessary safety improvements to the railway-high14 way grade crossings identified under subsection 

15 (d)(3). 

16 ‘‘(2) PRIORITIZATION.—In awarding grants 

17 under this subsection, the Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) give priority to projects to install 

19 automated warning systems at railway-highway 

20 grade crossings in States with the highest num21 ber of accidents at such crossings; and 

22 ‘‘(B) strive to reduce the number of rail23 way-highway grade crossings without automated 

24 warning systems by not less than 50 percent. 
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1 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—Each State desiring a 

2 grant under this subsection shall submit an applica3 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

4 and accompanied by such information as the Sec5 retary may reasonably require. 

6 ‘‘(4) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The Sec7 retary may not award a grant to a State under this 

8 subsection unless that State agrees that, with re9 spect to the costs to be incurred by the State in car10 rying out the program for which the grant was 

11 awarded, the State will make available non-Federal 

12 contributions in an amount equal to not less than $1 

13 for every $9 of Federal financial assistance provided 

14 under the grant.’’. 

15 (c) FUNDING.—Section 104(d) of title 23, United 

16 States Code, is amended— 

17 (1) by amending the subsection header to read 

18 as follows: ‘‘FUNDS RESERVED FOR IMPROVING

19 SAFETY AT RAILWAY-HIGHWAY CROSSINGS’’; 

20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) RAILWAY-ROAD GRADE CROSSING SAFETY

22 IMPROVEMENTS.—Before making an apportionment 

23 of funds under subsection (b)(3) for a fiscal year, 

24 the Secretary shall set aside $178,000,000 of the 

25 funds made available for the surface transportation 
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1 program for the fiscal year for grants under section 

2 130(j).’’. 

3 SEC. 3. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING CROSSING SIGNS, SIG4 NALS, OR GATES. 

5 (a) PREVENTION OF TRESPASSING AND VANDALISM

6 ON RAILROAD PROPERTY.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans8 portation shall— 

9 (1) analyze Federal, State, and local laws for 

10 preventing and responding to trespassing and van11 dalism on railroad property; and 

12 (2) update model strategies to prevent such 

13 trespassing and vandalism. 

14 (b) MODEL LEGISLATION.—Not later than 2 years 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

16 Transportation, after consultation with States, units of 

17 local government, and railroad carriers shall develop and 

18 make available model legislation providing for civil and 

19 criminal penalties for individuals who violate grade cross20 ing signs, signals, or gates. 

21 SEC. 4. OPERATION LIFESAVER FUNDING. 

22 Section 104(d)(1) of title 23, United States Code, is 

23 amended by striking ‘‘set aside’’ and all that follows and 

24 inserting the following: ‘‘set aside, to carry out a public 

25 information and education program to help prevent and 
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1 reduce motor vehicle accidents, injuries, and fatalities, and 

2 to improve driver performance at railway-road crossings— 

3 ‘‘(1) $1,250,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

4 ‘‘(2) $1,300,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

5 ‘‘(3) $1,350,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

6 ‘‘(4) $1,400,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

7 ‘‘(5) $1,460,000 for fiscal year 2010.’’. 

8 SEC. 5. INSPECTIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS. 

9 (a) ANNUAL INSPECTIONS.—Section 20107 of title 

10 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL INSPECTIONS.—The Secretary of 

13 Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the 

14 Federal Railroad Administration, shall, physically inspect, 

15 on an annual basis, not less than 2 percent of all highway16 rail grade crossings in the 10 States with the highest rates 

17 of collisions at such crossings during the 3-year period 

18 ending on the date of enactment of this Act.’’. 

19 (b) ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 20902 of 

20 title 49, United States Code, is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub22 section (d); and 

23 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol24 lowing: 

25 ‘‘(c) INVESTIGATION OF FATAL ACCIDENTS.— 
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transpor2 tation, acting through the Administrator of the Fed3 eral Railroad Administration, shall conduct an inves4 tigation of— 

5 ‘‘(A) all fatal accidents in the United 

6 States during the 1-year period ending on the 

7 date of enactment of this subsection; and 

8 ‘‘(B) any fatal railroad accident occurring 

9 in the United States on or after the date of en10 actment of this subsection. 

11 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

12 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

13 and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 

14 a report to Congress on the results of the investiga15 tions conducted under paragraph (1) during the 1- 

16 year period ending on the date of enactment of this 

17 Act and during each successive 1-year period.’’. 

18 SEC. 6. DEFINITION. 

19 As used in this Act, and the amendments made by 

20 this Act, the term ‘‘highway’’ has the meaning given the 

21 term in section 101 of title 23, United States Code. 

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