2. 1. Why Rail Safety is so high on the priority list.
2. Section 130 Rail-Highway Safety Program
3. Rail-Highway Diagnostic Review Elements
and Process
4. Sain’s Role in the Process
5. Railroad Background Information and Key
Concepts
6. Types of Railroad Warning Devices

6. 3.22%

7. There was an 84% decline in the number
of train/motor vehicle collisions from
roughly 12,000 in1972 to 1,900 in 2009.
(Source: FRA 2009
statistics)

8. Bureau of Transportation Planning and
Modal Programs
Rail Section
Division

9.  Scott Overby – Transportation Manager
& Rail Safety Manager
 Clarence Hodges – Transportation
Technologist, Sr. & Assistant Rail Manager
 Donald Lovelace – Transportation
Technologist & Section 130 Manager

10.  1st Division – Meng Han
 2nd Division – Andy Laster
 3rd Division – Renya Hooks
 4th Division – Ken Cush & Steven Corley
 5th Division – Rozalyn Clifton & Keith Hoggle
 6th Division – David Bollie & David Primm
 7th Division – Dewayne Chancellor
 8th Division – Jeff Powell
 9th Division – Dewayne Hood

11. GOAL: To provide federal support (funding) in efforts to reduce the
incidence of accidents, injuries and fatalities at public railroad
crossings.
 Administered by FHWA
 Established by the Highway Safety Act of 1973
 Funds the efforts of ALDOT’s Rail Section to improve
rail safety in Alabama by providing additional warning
devices to public Rail/Highway Crossings in Alabama.
 A ranking is given to each railroad crossing in the
State using the US DOT Accident Prediction Formula
Index. This allows a prioritized list of projects to be
developed. For each of those projects, ALDOT must
perform a Diagnostic Review.

14.  Improved safety for both railroad and
highway users
 Systematic approach
 Focused effort on high priority crossings
in terms of safety needs

15. Predicts the likelihood of a collision
occurring over a given period of time given
conditions at the crossing.
Used to determine prioritization for each
construction phase.
Combines three independent calculations
to produce a collision prediction value.

16. 1. Provides an initial hazard ranking based on
a crossing’s characteristics
2. Utilizes the actual collision history at a
crossing over a determined number of
years to produce a collision prediction
value
3. Adds a normalizing constant, which is
adjusted periodically to keep the
procedure matched with current collision
trends.

17. 1. Sain Associates
2. Perspective Railroad
3. ALDOT Staff (Local & Montgomery)
4. City/County

18.  FHWA RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE
CROSSING HANDBOOK
REVISED 2ND EDITION
 MUTCD 2009
CHAPTER 8: TRAFFIC CONTROL FOR RAILROAD AND LIGHT
RAIL TRANSIT GRADE CROSSINGS
 ALDOT DIAGNOSTIC REVIEW FORM
 ALDOT STANDARDS FOR RAILROAD
ELEMENTS STANDARD DRAWINGS 913 – 915
 WWW.AMERICAN-RAILS.COM
 WWW.FRA.DOT.GOV

20.  Contacts
 Inventory
 Section 130
 Construction
 Invoice
 Crossing Closures
 Appendices
 MUTCD
 Div. Crossings

21.  Contacts
 Inventory
 Section 130
 Construction
 Invoice
 Crossing Closures
 Appendices
 MUTCD
 Div. Crossings

23. OBTAIN BACKGROUND INFORMATION
COORDINATE DATE/TIME/LOCATION FOR ON-SITE REVIEW WITH DIAGNOSTIC TEAM
PERFORM DIAGNOSTIC REVIEW IN THE FIELD
PREPARE DRAWINGS AND PAPERWORK
SUBMIT TO ALDOT DIVISION FOR REVIEW
INCORPORATE DIVISION COMMENTS
SUBMIT TO ALDOT MULTI-MODAL DEPARTMENT FOR REVIEW

25. The FRA Website provides access to
railroad safety data including:
National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory
Data
Information from the Railroad Accident
Incident Reporting System

26. Scroll down and select:
Section 5.02 – Generate Crossing
Inventory and Accident Reports
or use direct link:
http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/
officeofsafety/publicsite/
crossing/crossing.aspx

27. Select “Report Type”
Enter DOT Crossing ID Number
Generate Report
Select Current

28. ACCIDENT REPORT
INVENTORY
REPORT
CONTACT

29. Select Maps

31.  Provided by ALDOT
 5 Parts:
o Location and Classification Information
o Railroad Information
o Highway Traffic Control Device Information
o Physical Characteristics
o Public Highway Information
 Includes photographs

34. • Camera
• Measuring Wheel
• Tape Measure
• Safety Vests
• Clipboards
• Range Finder
• Sain’s Diagnostic
Process and
Inventory Checklist
• ALDOT Rail-Highway
Diagnostic Review Form

35.  Meeting facilitator
 Collect data (photography,
measurements and inventory items)
 Take field notes
 Provide recommendations for discussion
amongst all team members

37. “A” = Sight Distance along the railroad tracks to permit the vehicle
to cross and be clear of the crossing upon arrival of the train.
“B” = Sight distance measured along the highway from the nearest
rail to the driver of a vehicle which allows the vehicle to be safely
stopped without encroachment of the crossing area.

38. Assume vehicle speed = 0
“A” = Sight Distance along the railroad tracks to permit the vehicle to
cross and be clear of the crossing upon arrival of the train.

43. 1. Submit to ALDOT Division for review
2. Incorporate Division comments
3. Submit to ALDOT Multi-Modal
Department for review

45.  6,011 railroad crossings in Alabama
 3,279 of those are public at-grade crossings
 1,277 of the 3,279 are signalized
 1,615 crossings have passive devices
 2,027 private crossings
 869 closed crossings

46.  Public Crossings – on highways under
jurisdiction of and maintained by public
authority and open to the traveling
public.
 Private Crossings – on roadways privately
owned and utilized by the landowner or
licensee.
 Pedestrian Crossings – used solely by
pedestrians.

47.  FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) –
categorizes railroad tracks into six
classes based on maximum speed limits.
 AAR (Association of American Railroads)
– categorizes railroad based on
operating revenues.

48. CLASS FREIGHT PASSENGER
(mph) (mph)
1 10 15
2 25 30
3 40 60
4 60 80
5 80 90
6 110 110
7 125 125
8 160 160
9 200 200

49. Railroad classes are
defined by
Association of
American Railroads
(AAR) based on
operating revenue.
CLASS I – operating
revenues exceeding
$319.3 million
annually
CLASS II – operating
revenues between
$20.5 million and
$277.7million
CLASS III – less than
$10 million of annual
operating revenue.

50. Class I Rail Companies in Alabama:
1. Canadian National
2. CSX Transportation
3. Norfolk Southern
4. BNSF Railway

51. Only one Class II Rail Company in
Alabama:
1. Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway (AGR)

52. o 22 Class III Rail Companies in Alabama
o Make up bulk of railroads (500 or so
nationwide)

53.  Closure of Crossing
 Installation of standard signs and pavement
markings
 Installation of replacement active warning
devices
 Upgrading existing warning devices
 Consider pre-emption/interconnection with
signals
 Crossing illumination
 General site improvements
 Crossing surface improvements

54. PASSIVE: ACTIVE:
 Signs*  Automatic Gates
 Pavement Markings  Four-quadrant Gates
 Flashing-light Signals
 Traffic Control Signals
* All signs shall be retroreflectorized  Actuated Blank-out
or illuminated. Signs
 Variable Message Signs

56. “Yield right-of-way to rail traffic at grade crossing”
At a minimum, one crossbuck sign shall be used on each
highway approach to every highway-rail grade crossing,
alone or in combination with other traffic control devices.

57. Required if:
 No automatic
gates are present
 2 or more tracks
at a grade crossing

58. Not required if:
A. On an approach to a grade crossing from a T-
intersection with a parallel highway if the
distance from the edge of the track to the edge
of the parallel roadway is less than 100 feet and
W10-3 signs are used on both approaches of the
parallel highway.
B. On low-volume, low-speed highways crossing
minor spurs or other infrequently used tracks and
road users are authorized by an authorized
person on the ground to not enter crossing at all
times that approaching rail traffic is about to
occupy crossing.
C. In business or commercial areas where active
grade crossing traffic control devices are in use.
D. Where physical conditions do not permit even a
partially effective display of the sign.

59. POSTED SPEED (mph) DISTANCE (ft.)
20 100 (Minimum)*
25 100 (Minimum)*
30 100 (Minimum)*
35 100 (Minimum)*
40 125
45 175
50 250
55 325
60 400
65 475
70 550
75 650
*Not required on low volume, low speed roadways

60. W10-2 W10-3 W10-4
Installed on approaches of parallel highways if the distance
between the tracks and the parallel highway, from the edge
of the tracks to the edge of the parallel roadway, is less than
100 feet to warn road users making a turn that they will
encounter a grade crossing soon after making a turn.

62. “Provides information to road users so that they can notify
the railroad company about emergencies or malfunctioning
traffic control devices.”

63. If an engineering study indicates that
other installed devices provide suitable
warning and control, pavement
markings are not required in the
following circumstances:
A. Posted or statutory speed is less
than 40 mph if an engineering
study indicates that other installed
devices provide suitable warning
and control
B. In urban areas
Offset of stop bar = 15’ from nearest rail & 8’ from gate

64. Flashing Lights and Gates Offset = 12’ – 15’ from track
Typical horizontal offset of gate from roadway = 8’

65. FLASHING LIGHTS AUTOMATIC GATES
 8” OR 12”  EXTENDS ACROSS
APPROACHING HIGHWAY
 MAST-MOUNTED OR TRAFFIC LANE
CANTILEVERED (WHEN
ADDITIONAL EMPHASIS  FOUR-QUADRANT GATE
OR BETTER VISIBILITY IS SYSTEM – CONSISTS OF
NEEDED, SUCH AS ON ENTRANCE AND EXIT GATES
MULTI-LANE HIGHWAYS THAT CONTROL AND BLOCK
OR HIGH-FREQUENCY ROAD USERS OF ALL LANES
CRASH LOCATIONS) ENTERING AND EXITING
THE GRADE CROSSING.

66.  Constant Warning Time – A motion sensing system
with the capability of measuring train speed and
providing a relatively uniform warning time to public
traffic at highway-rail intersections.
 Motion Detection – Uses an electronic device that
senses the movement of a train within the approach
to a highway-rail crossing. It also detects when a
train ceases to move toward the crossing and will,
after a specific period of time, deactivate the
crossing signals.
FRA minimum warning time = 20 seconds

67. o Crossing Exposure – (Number of trains/day) X (ADT)
o Hump Crossings – a crossing at which the railroad
bed is higher than the road it is crossing, causing a
hump for the motorist to cross; a high-profile
crossing on which a long-wheelbase or low-
ground-clearance vehicle may become lodged or
stuck on the “hump”.

68. o Quiet Zone – stretch of rail line that contains one or
more consecutive public crossings at which trains are
prohibited from sounding their horns in order to
decrease the noise level for nearby residential
communities; must have supplementary safety
measures.
o Siding – railroad track used by one train to pass or
“meet” another train; laid adjacent to a through track.
o Spur – railroad track on which cars are left for loading
and unloading; used for railroad car storage; can be
single-ended or double-ended.

69. o Wayside Horn System – a stationary horn (or series
of horns) located at a grade crossing that is used in
conjunction with train-activated warning systems to
provide audible warning of approaching rail traffic
to road users either as a supplement or alternative
to sounding of a locomotive horn.
o Wig Wag – nickname given to a type
of railroad grade crossing signal once
common in North America; named
for the pendulum-like motion it used
to signal the approach of a train.

70. o What does three short train whistles mean?