Wednesday, July 25, 2007 (Washington, DC) Continuing a national effort to improve safety and save lives at private highway-rail grade crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is holding a series of public meetings across the country, with the next and final meeting being held in Syracuse, N.Y., on Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 9:30 a.m.

The purpose of the meeting is to gather information to help FRA better understand the safety issues at locations where non-public roadways cross over railroad tracks used by freight and passenger trains. Approximately 400 vehicle-train collisions resulting in more than 30 fatalities occur at the nation’s 94,000 private grade crossings each year.

Since private crossings are not subject to the same federal safety regulations as public crossings, FRA is seeking comments on several topics, including: how to define when a private crossing has a public purpose; how improvement and maintenance costs should be allocated; whether current advance warning signs and devices for motorists are adequate; and if there should be a more uniform state or federal approach to improving safety at private crossings.

Establishing responsibility for safety at private crossings is one of the primary goals of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety and Trespass Prevention Action Plan issued in 2004. Increased focus on private crossings will complement FRA’s ongoing comprehensive program to improve safety at public crossings.

The public meeting will be held Thursday, July 26 at 9:30 a.m. at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel, 701 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, N.Y. Previous meetings have been held in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

The FRA also has established a public docket so interested parties may submit written comments for public review and consideration. The docket is available at http://dms.dot.gov (FRA-2005 – 23281).