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The Highway Safety Acts of 1973 and 1976, and the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978 provide funds to individual states to improve safety at public rail-highway crossings. This report was undertaken in support of a U.S. DOT effort to improve the efficient allocation and use of these...
The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate potential concepts for reducing injuries to highway occupants and train occupants in rail-highway grade crossing collisions. A review of railroad, highway vehicle, and aviation sources was made. The identified concepts were principally those...
This report describes a methodology developed at the Transportation Systems Center for the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Highway Administration to aid in determining the most effective allocation of funds to improve safety at rail-highway crossings. One way to improve safety is...
One important improvement for achieving greater effectiveness in train-activated warning systems at railroad-highway grade crossings (RHGC) would be to provide a constant warning time (CWT) to the motorist of the impending arrival of a train. This report describes an investigation that was...
The Highway Safety Acts of 1973 and 1976, and the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978, provide funding authorizations to individual states to improve safety at public rail-highway crossings. The installation of active motorist warning devices, such as flashing lights or flashing lights...
This report examines five factors affecting the safety impact and costs associated with application of retroreflective materials to railroad freight cars to reduce the number of rail-highway crossing accidents in which motorists run into the side of a train in darkness. Measurements and...
The U.S. Department of Transprotation, Research and Special Programs Administration, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, in support of the Federal Railroad Administration is conducting a research program with the goal of reducing the number of fatalities and injuries at higway-railroad...
The railroad signal community and the grade crossing equipment suppliers have reported an increase in the occurrence of loss of shunt on railroad grade crossing island circuits, as confirmed through an October 1990 Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) survey of railroad signal officers. Loss...
A national study examined the accident histories of grade crossings with whistle bans. Findings suggest that whistle bans increase the risk of accidents at crossings.
As part of FRA Task Order 114, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Transportation Technology Center (TTC), Pueblo, Colorado, completed testing of Vehicle Proximity Alert System (VP AS) system 1. VP AS systems are designed to give priority vehicle operators (emergency, police, school...