Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No. FHWA

FHWA-SA-12-020

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient's Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

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

5. Report Date

October 2012

6. Performing Organization Code

7. Authors

Kevin Moriarty, Joshua Bendyk, Hugh McGee, Joseph Herr, Terry Byrne, and Matthew Dixon

8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
8300 Boone Boulevard, Suite 700
Vienna, VA 22182-2626

10. Work Unit No.

11. Contract or Grant No.

DTF61-05-D-00024

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Office of Safety
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20590

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Final Report
September 2010-September 2012

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes:

This report was produced under the FHWA contract DTF61-10-D-00022-T-11003. The Contracting Officer's Technical Manager (COTM) was Guan Xu, FHWA Office of Safety. The USDOT Technical Panel members were Brian Gilleran, Joe Glinski, Jeff Shaw, Chris Webster, and Wei Zhang.

16. Abstract

Over 15 years ago, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued 29 recommendations to improve safety at active controlled highway-rail grade crossings following the school bus-commuter train collision in Fox River Grove, Illinois. The objective of this task order was to develop technical information to assist highway agencies and railroads with integrating effective event recording devices within interconnected/preempted highway-rail grade crossing signal systems. This information is intended to be applicable to the installation of new systems as well as to retrofitting existing systems. The objective also included developing technical information that could be used to establish periodic inspection of traffic signals by State and local highway agencies as well as detailed joint annual inspections of interconnected highway-rail grade crossing signal systems. Specific emphasis was placed on highway agencies, as there are currently no national regulations to counterpart 49 CFR 234 and AREMA mandates for railroad agencies. The outcomes of this effort are focused to help the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) implement the two NTSB recommendations, supporting Safety Advisory 2010-02.

17. Key Words

Railroad, Highway, Grade Crossing, Intersection, Event Recording, Signal Systems, Preemption

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions.

19. Security Classif. (of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages:

131

22. Price