Railway-Highway Grade Crossing

Railroad crossing sign

The Office of Safety is re-emphasizing the importance of maintaining current and accurate highway-rail grade crossing inventories. Title 23, Part 924 of the Code of Federal Regulations (23 CFR 924) contains the policy regarding the development and implementation of a comprehensive highway safety improvement program (HSIP) for each State. Part of the FHWA's HSIP planning component requires States to:

  • Maintain a "record of accidents, traffic, and highway data, including railroad-highway grade crossings, the characteristics of both highway and traffic."
  • Have a process for determining "the relative hazard of public railroad-highway grade crossings based on a hazard index formula."

We ask our stakeholders to support the States with all inventory efforts related to the Office of Safety's memorandum and guidance entitled "GUIDANCE ON 23 U.S.C. § 130 ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR RAILWAY-HIGHWAY CROSSINGS". We also encourage the States to share and/or update their grade crossing inventory information with the Federal Railroad Administration's Office of Safety.

If you need additional information, please feel free to contact the FHWA Division Office in your respective State. Again, thank you for your commitment to Safety, and as always, please remember to "Buckle Up" and "Always Expect A Train."

Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Visor Card

7 Steps for Safety at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings: [PDF - 370KB], October 2006

Featured Web Site

Ohio Rail Development Commission
This site also has a web page dedicated to Ohio's Grade Crossing Inventory.

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Program Contact

James Dahlem

202-366-9265

What's New

New Recording Devices for Interconnected Grade Crossing and Intersection Signal Systems: An Informational Report

Highlights

Highway-Rail Crossing Safety Action Plan