{"id":8826,"date":"2011-03-04T20:56:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T20:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utu.org\/?p=8826"},"modified":"2011-03-04T20:56:09","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T20:56:09","slug":"fra-proposes-crossing-hazards-hotline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/fra-proposes-crossing-hazards-hotline\/","title":{"rendered":"FRA proposes crossing-hazards hotline","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON — Railroads soon will be required by the Federal Railroad Administration to establish toll-free telephone numbers to allow the public to report malfunctioning highway-rail grade-crossing warning signals, disabled vehicles blocking crossings and other unsafe conditions at crossings.<\/p>\n
The rule is required by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and will go into effect following a 60-day public comment period.<\/p>\n
Under the proposed rule, once the railroad receives a call about an unsafe situation, train dispatchers and crews in the area would be notified immediately of the unsafe condition in an effort to avoid an accident.<\/p>\n
The proposal to establish emergency notification systems would require railroads to post a toll-free telephone number and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Crossing Inventory identification number at every highway-rail crossing and explicitly authorized pathway grade-crossing.<\/p>\n
Currently, major Class I freight railroads and major passenger railroads have some type of system in place by which they receive notification of unsafe conditions at grade crossings.<\/p>\n
However, said the FRA, not all smaller railroads have such a system in place. Based on National Crossing Inventory data, the proposed rule would affect 211,401 highway-rail and pathway grade-crossings on 594 railroads.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON — Railroads soon will be required by the Federal Railroad Administration to establish toll-free telephone numbers to allow the public to report malfunctioning highway-rail grade-crossing warning signals, disabled vehicles blocking crossings and other unsafe conditions at crossings. The rule is required by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and will go into effect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,45,9,18,25],"tags":[],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n