FRA

FRA Wants More Action to Prevent Grade Crossing Fatalities

The administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration is calling for greater action to prevent fatalities at the nation’s more than 200,000 railroad crossings. The call from Sarah E. Feinberg comes several significant incidents in recent weeks that have killed parents and their children at railroad crossings. “Over the last six weeks, there have been three significant, tragic railroad crossing incidents. Each took the lives of parents and young children,” Feinberg said in a release. “In San Leandro, California, a mother and her 3-year-old child were killed. In Colorado, a mother, a father and three of their four young children were killed on the way

Safety

Union Pacific: Number of Railroad Crossing Accidents Reduced in 2015

Union Pacific said it reduced railroad crossing accidents 3 percent in 2015 to 2.28. That is the total number of Federal Railroad Administration reportable grade crossing accidents per million train miles, the railroad said earlier this month. Launched in 2015, Union Pacific’s Crossing Assessment Process (CAP) focuses attention on crossings with certain characteristics where incidents may be more likely to occur. While all Union Pacific crossings that comply with company maintenance standards are safe for the traveling public, drivers continue to make mistakes at some of them. CAP helps identify those crossings and find safety enhancements. “Our initial review showed 25 percent