II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2334

To improve safety at rail-highway grade crossings and railroad rights-ofway, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 28 (legislative day, JULY 20), 1994

Mr. BAUCUS (by request) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To improve safety at rail-highway grade crossings and

railroad rights-of-way, 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 ‘‘Rail-Highway Grade

5 Crossing Safety Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) there are approximately 170,000 public and

9 110,000 private at-grade rail-highway crossings in

10 the United States;
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1 (2) during 1993, there were nearly 4,900 acci2 dents at these crossings;

3 (3) it is necessary to improve safety at our

4 Nation’s rail-highway crossings and along rail

5 rights-of-way;

6 (4) there are insufficient public funds to pro7 vide for the installation of warning systems that are

8 automatically activated by approaching trains at all

9 public crossings;

10 (5) many of the Nation’s public rail-highway

11 crossings are unnecessary and should be closed;

12 (6) rail-highway crossing consolidation will re13 duce the potential for rail-highway crossing collisions

14 and will allow States to concentrate on improving

15 safety at the remaining crossings;

16 (7) incentives are needed to encourage State

17 and local governments to increase the consolidation

18 of rail-highway crossings; and

19 (8) increased funding must be provided to edu20 cate motorists in their responsibilities at crossings in

21 order to realize the full benefits from the public in22 vestment in rail-highway crossing warning systems.
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1 SEC. 3. RAIL-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSING CLOSING PRO2 GRAM.

3 (a) Section 120(c) of title 23, United States Code,

4 is amended by inserting ‘‘rail-highway crossing closures,’’

5 after ‘‘vanpooling,’’.

6 (b) Section 130 of title 23, United States Code, is

7 amended by relettering subsection (h) as (j) and adding

8 new subsections (h) and (i) to read as follows:

9 ‘‘(h) INCENTIVE FUNDS FOR CLOSING CROSSINGS.—

10 ‘‘(1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this sub11 section, any State after adopting a policy requiring

12 the review of the need for all new public at-grade

13 rail-highway crossings, may, in its discretion, use the

14 funds authorized under this section to provide an in15 centive payment to a local jurisdiction of a public at16 grade crossing.

17 ‘‘(2) The incentive payments authorized by

18 paragraph (1) of this subsection may not exceed

19 $7,500, provided that the funds are matched by an

20 equal payment from the railroad owning the tracks

21 on which the crossing is located.

22 ‘‘(3) The local jurisdiction receiving funds

23 under this subsection shall use the Federal funds

24 portion of the incentive payment for transportation

25 safety improvements only.
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1 ‘‘(i) PUBLIC BENEFITS AND COSTS ANALYSES.—

2 Within 18 months after the date of this Act, the Secretary

3 shall establish guidelines to enable States to determine the

4 public benefits and costs resulting from any new rail-high5 way grade crossing.’’.

6 SEC. 4. OPERATION LIFESAVER.

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

8 amended by striking everything after ‘‘OPERATION LIFE9 SAVER.—’’ and inserting in lieu thereof the following: ‘‘Be10 fore making an apportionment of funds under

11 subsection(b)(3) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall set

12 aside $500,000 of the funds authorized to be appropriated

13 for the surface transportation program for such fiscal year

14 for carrying out a public information and education pro15 gram to help prevent and reduce motor vehicle accidents,

16 injuries, and fatalities and to improve driver performance

17 at railway-highway crossings, and to help prevent tres18 passing on rail rights-of-way and the resulting injuries and

19 fatalities, provided however, expenditure of any funds in

20 excess of $300,000 shall be contingent upon receipt of

21 matching funds from non-public sources.’’.
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1 SEC. 5. GRADE CROSSING CORRIDOR SAFETY INCENTIVE

2 PROGRAM.

3 (a) Section 104 of title 23, United States Code, is

4 amended by adding a new paragraph (4) to subsection (d)

5 to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(4) GRADE CROSSING CORRIDOR SAFETY IN7 VENTIVE PROGRAM.—Before making an apportion8 ment of funds under subsection (b)(3) for a fiscal

9 year, the Secretary shall set aside $15,000,000 of

10 the funds authorized to be appropriated for the sur11 face transportation program for such fiscal year to

12 carry out a program to provide a financial incentive

13 to States that would review and implement grade

14 crossing safety improvements on a corridor basis in

15 accordance with section 130(k) of title 23, United

16 States Code.’’.

17 (b) Section 130 of title 23, United States Code, is

18 amended by adding subsection (k) to read as follows:

19 ‘‘(k) GRADE CROSSING CORRIDOR SAFETY INCEN20 TIVE PROGRAM.—

21 ‘‘(1) The Secretary shall carry out a program

22 to provide an additional financial incentive to States

23 that would review and implement grade crossing

24 safety improvements in a corridor basis. The finan25 cial incentive would be in addition to those funds
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1 available in accordance with the preceding sub2 sections.

3 ‘‘(2) Funds authorized to be appropriated to

4 carry out his subsection shall be available for obliga5 tion at the discretion of the Secretary. The Sec6 retary shall issue investment criteria for approving

7 projects under this section.

8 ‘‘(3) All provisions of chapter 1 of title 23,

9 United States Code, other than provisions relating

10 to apportionment formula and Federal share, shall

11 apply to funds made available to carry out this sub12 section. Funds authorized to be appropriated to

13 carry out this section shall remain available until

14 expended.’’.

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