5.0 Policy Recommendations

Congress should expand funding to multifaceted programs and organizations that support rail trespassing prevention.

Trespassing is an issue that spans multiple policy areas, and effective programs to reduce it needs to go beyond traditional railroad approaches. There is no ongoing multiagency federal program devoted to rail trespass prevention, whereas there is such a program devoted to preventing grade crossing collisions (the Section 130 program). Expanded funding to organizations like Operation Lifesaver as well as engaging policy areas of homelessness, addiction, and mental health can create multifaceted strategies, including those involving new technologies to monitor and address problem areas, to address persistent problems. Such a program deserves substantial funding and attention since trespassing is the leading cause of fatalities on the rail network. Programs can be designed to allow flexibility to the local context and require reporting to better evaluate what strategies are the most effective so other states and railroads can learn best practices.

Policymakers and planners should address grade crossing and trespassing issues with targeted education efforts combined with targeted enforcement and better engineering at areas with persistent safety issues.

Education, engineering, and enforcement have to work in concert with each other and constantly refine their approaches based on feedback from each other. Safety policy can be more effective when there is more two-way dialogue between education-focused outfits like Operation Lifesaver and state programs like BeRailSafe and law enforcement. Engaging local police, railroad police, and private security at railroadadjacent facilities can help, particularly when law enforcement takes on an educational, instead of punitive, approach. In places where there are persistent problems, roadway designs that force drivers to slow down, limit the ability to drive around gates, and enhance the visibility of oncoming trains can greatly reduce the risk for collisions. Further, engineering should also address ways to provide safer and more attractive places for people to bike and walk.

Amtrak, commuter railroads, and their freight railroad hosts need more funding to address persistent problems with grade crossing incidents.

Grade crossing incidents on passenger railroads and where passenger trains operate have increased 50 percent over the past decade. This problem will require more information to determine exactly when and where such issues are occurring, but federal and state dollars are needed to address the growing problem. Eligibility should include

engineering, education, and enforcement approaches and the statutory $7,500 per crossing maximum for federal assistance with grade crossing closure projects should be increased or eliminated.

States and localities, particularly those with higher grade crossing and trespassing incidents, need to spend more resources to tackling those localized issues.

States need to get more involved in cutting the rates of trespassing and grade crossing incidents in their jurisdiction. Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas all have more than 80 grade crossing incidents per year and have seen incidents increase more than 10 percent over the past decade. With respect to trespassing, Georgia has the highest rate of injuries and fatalities adjusted for population, and California, Colorado, Florida, and Oregon have high rates and worsening trends. These states need targeted efforts and funding to address problems, along with transparent measurement of the outcomes of these initiatives.

The federal government should quantify the outcomes of specific initiatives and provide cost ranges for various safety treatments.

Particularly when it comes to innovative technologies and new approaches to education and enforcement, FRA needs to fund studies that evaluate experimental approaches and determine whether they achieved their intended outcomes. Similarly, the FRA and industry trade groups needs to publish a list of infrastructure and signaling treatments and their respective cost ranges. Without reliable or useful data associated with the range of costs for installing and maintaining crossing gates, fencing, or other treatments, it is difficult to determine how to effectively target scarce dollars to improve outcomes at grade crossings.

Congress should remove legal and procedural barriers to railroads’ sharing of more trespasser data with FRA and other authorities.

Railroads are reluctant to share trespasser close call data with FRA as the agency lacks statutory authority to protect this data from disclosure and use in judicial and other actions to determine damages or liability. But this data can be invaluable to helping law enforcement, localities, and states address specific trespassing issues.