I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3698 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to limit railroad carriers from blocking 

railway-highway crossings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2021 

Mr. COOPER (for himself and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to limit railroad 

carriers from blocking railway-highway crossings, 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 ‘‘Don’t BLock Our 

5 Communities Act’’ or the ‘‘D-BLOC Act’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3698 IH

1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF 10-MINUTE TIME LIMIT FOR 

2 BLOCKING PUBLIC HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE 

3 CROSSINGS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 201 of 

5 title 49, United States Code, as amended by this division, 

6 is further amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 20169. Time limit for blocking public highway-rail 

8 grade crossing 

9 ‘‘(a) TIME LIMIT.—A railroad carrier may not cause 

10 a blocked crossing incident that is longer than 10 minutes 

11 in duration, unless the blocked crossing incident is caused 

12 by— 

13 ‘‘(1) a casualty or serious injury; 

14 ‘‘(2) an accident; 

15 ‘‘(3) a track obstruction; 

16 ‘‘(4) actions necessary to comply with Federal 

17 rail safety laws, regulations, or orders issued there18 under unless the action to comply could reasonably 

19 occur at a different time or location; 

20 ‘‘(5) actions necessary to adhere to section 

21 24308; 

22 ‘‘(6) a train fully contained within rail yard lim23 its or fully contained in a rail siding; 

24 ‘‘(7) an act of God; or 

25 ‘‘(8) a derailment or a safety appliance equip26 ment failure that prevents the train from advancing. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3698 IH

1 ‘‘(b) INVESTIGATION OF FREQUENTLY BLOCKED

2 CROSSINGS.—For any public highway-rail grade crossing 

3 that has had 3 or more blocked crossing incidents that 

4 exceed the time limit set forth in subsection (a) and are 

5 reported to the blocked crossing database, and such inci6 dents have occurred on at least 3 calendar days within 

7 a 30-day period, the Secretary shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) provide an electronic notice of the number 

9 of reported blocked crossing incidents to the railroad 

10 carrier that owns the public highway-rail grade 

11 crossing; 

12 ‘‘(2) investigate the causes of the blocked cross13 ing incidents; and 

14 ‘‘(3) investigate possible measures to reduce the 

15 frequency and duration of blocked crossing incidents 

16 at such grade crossing. 

17 ‘‘(c) RECORDKEEPING.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A railroad carrier shall, 

19 upon receiving a notice under subsection (b), main20 tain train location data records for the public high21 way-rail grade crossing that was the subject of the 

22 notice. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORDS.—The train loca24 tion data records required under paragraph (1) shall 

25 include— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3698 IH

1 ‘‘(A) a list of all blocked crossing incidents 

2 at the public highway-rail grade crossing that is 

3 the subject of the report exceeding 10 minutes; 

4 ‘‘(B) the cause of the blocked crossing inci5 dent (to the extent available); 

6 ‘‘(C) train length; and 

7 ‘‘(D) the estimated duration of each 

8 blocked crossing incident. 

9 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—Beginning on the date 

10 on which a railroad carrier receives a notice under 

11 subsection (b), the Secretary may consult with the 

12 carrier for a period of 60 days to address concerns 

13 with blocked crossing incidents at the public high14 way-rail grade crossing that is the subject of the no15 tice. 

16 ‘‘(4) EXPIRATION OF DATA COLLECTION.—The 

17 requirement to maintain records under paragraph 

18 (1) shall cease with respect to a public highway-rail 

19 grade crossing noticed under subsection (b)(2) if 

20 there are no reports submitted to the blocked cross21 ing database for blocked crossing incidents reported 

22 to occur at such grade crossing during the previous 

23 365 consecutive calendar days. 

24 ‘‘(d) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3698 IH

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may issue 

2 civil penalties in accordance with section 21301 to 

3 railroad carriers for violations of subsection (a) oc4 curring 60 days after the date of submission of a no5 tice under subsection (b). 

6 ‘‘(2) RELEASE OF RECORDS.—Upon the request 

7 of, and under requirements set by, the Secretary, 

8 railroad carriers shall provide the records main9 tained pursuant to subsection (c)(1) to the Adminis10 trator of the Federal Railroad Administration. 

11 ‘‘(3) ALTERNATE ROUTE EXEMPTION.—Civil 

12 penalties may not be issued for violations of sub13 section (a) that occur at a public highway-rail grade 

14 crossing if no alternate route created by a public 

15 highway-rail grade separation exists within a half 

16 mile by road of such public highway-rail grade cross17 ing. 

18 ‘‘(4) GRADE SEPARATION PROJECT.—Civil pen19 alties may not be issued for violations of subsection 

20 (a) if the violation occurs at a public highway-rail 

21 grade crossing for which there is a proposed grade 

22 separation project— 

23 ‘‘(A) that has received written agreement 

24 from the relevant local authorities; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3698 IH

1 ‘‘(B) for which rail carrier and project 

2 funding from all parties has been budgeted. 

3 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining civil 

4 penalties under this section, the Secretary shall con5 sider increased penalties in a case in which a pattern 

6 of the blocked crossing incidents continue to cause 

7 delays to State or local emergency services. 

8 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION TO AMTRAK AND COMMUTER

9 RAILROADS.—This section shall not apply to Amtrak or 

10 commuter authorities, including Amtrak and commuter 

11 authorities’ operations run or dispatched by a Class I rail12 road. 

13 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 ‘‘(1) BLOCKED CROSSING DATABASE.—The 

15 term ‘blocked crossing database’ means the national 

16 blocked crossing database established under section 

17 20170. 

18 ‘‘(2) BLOCKED CROSSING INCIDENT.—The term 

19 ‘blocked crossing incident’ means a circumstance in 

20 which a train, locomotive, rail car, or other rail 

21 equipment is stopped in a manner that obstructs 

22 travel at a public highway-rail grade crossing. 

23 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE CROSS24 ING.—The term ‘public highway-rail grade crossing’ 

25 means a location within a State in which a public 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3698 IH

1 highway, road, or street, including associated side2 walks and pathways, crosses 1 or more railroad 

3 tracks at grade.’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub5 chapter II of chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, 

6 is further amended by adding at the end the following new 

7 item: 

‘‘20169. Time limit for blocking public highway-rail grade crossing.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. NATIONAL BLOCKED CROSSING DATABASE. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 201 of 

10 title 49, United States Code, is further amended by adding 

11 at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘§ 20170. National blocked crossing database 

13 ‘‘(a) DATABASE.—Not later than 45 days after the 

14 date of enactment of the D-BLOC Act, the Secretary of 

15 Transportation shall establish a national blocked crossings 

16 database for the public to report blocked crossing inci17 dents. 

18 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC AWARENESS.—Not later than 60 days 

19 after the date of enactment of the D-BLOC Act, the Sec20 retary shall require each railroad carrier to publish the 

21 active link to report blocked crossing incidents on the 

22 website of the national blocked crossings database de23 scribed in subsection (a) on the home page of the publicly24 available website of the railroad carrier. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 3698 IH

1 ‘‘(c) BLOCKED CROSSING INCIDENT; PUBLIC HIGH2 WAY-RAIL GRADE CROSSING.—In this section, the terms 

3 ‘blocked crossing incident’ and ‘public highway-rail grade 

4 crossing’ have the meanings given the terms in section 

5 20169.’’. 

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub7 chapter II of chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, 

8 is further amended by adding at the end the following new 

9 item: 

‘‘20170. National blocked crossing database.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. RAILROAD POINT OF CONTACT FOR BLOCKED 

11 CROSSING MATTERS. 

12 Section 20152 of title 49, United States Code, is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (a)— 

15 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

16 (i) in subparagraph (C) by striking 

17 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

18 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 

19 (D) as subparagraph (E); and 

20 (iii) by inserting the following after 

21 subparagraph (C): 

22 ‘‘(D) blocked crossing incident, as defined 

23 in section 20169; or’’; 

24 (B) in paragraph (4)— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 3698 IH

1 (i) by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)(C) or 

2 (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (C), 

3 (D), or (E) of paragraph (1)’’; and 

4 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

5 (C) in paragraph (5) by striking the period 

6 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

7 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) upon receiving a report of a blocked cross9 ing pursuant to paragraph (1)(D), the railroad car10 rier shall, within 14 days of receipt of the report— 

11 ‘‘(A) verify that the public highway-rail 

12 grade crossing, as defined in section 20174, was 

13 blocked for a period of at least 10 minutes; and 

14 ‘‘(B) upon positive verification of the re15 port, enter the report into the national blocked 

16 crossings database established in section 20174; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(7) promptly inform the Secretary of any up19 date to the number maintained under paragraph 

20 (1).’’; and 

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

22 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS.—The 

23 Secretary shall make any telephone number established 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 3698 IH

1 under subsection (a) publicly available on the website of 

2 the Department of Transportation.’’. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS