Funding worth more than $570 million has been awarded to 63 projects in 32 US states to help reduce train-vehicle collisions and blocked rail crossings.
The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has announced the Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant Program. It comes after new figures revealed there were more than 2,000 highway-rail crossing collisions in the US last year and more than 30,000 reports of blocked crossings submitted to FRA’s public complaint portal.
The inaugural round of funding aims to address more than 400 at-grade crossings nationwide, improve safety, and make it easier to get around railroad tracks by adding grade separations, closing at-grade crossings, and improving existing at-grade crossings where train tracks and roads intersect.
“Every year, commuters, residents, and first responders lose valuable time waiting at blocked railroad crossings – and worse, those crossings are too often the site of collisions that could be prevented,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
USDOT said the projects selected for funding in the first year of the program would ‘improve the quality of life in communities big and small, creating safer rail crossings and allowing people to get to and from their homes, schools, businesses, hospitals, fire stations, and workplaces without being stranded and delayed by a standing train’.
The full list of award projects is available to view online.
