A bill to establish a portal and database to receive and maintain information regarding blocked railroad-highway grade crossings and to require the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate the requirements of the railway-highway crossings program.

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 700 To establish a portal and database to receive and maintain information regarding blocked railroad-highway grade crossings and to require the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate the requirements of the railway- highway crossings program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 11, 2021 Mrs. FISCHER (for herself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. TESTER, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To establish a portal and database to receive and maintain information regarding blocked railroad-highway grade crossings and to require the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate the requirements of the railway-highway crossings program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. BLOCKED RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSS- 3 INGS PORTAL. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Federal 5 Railroad Administration (referred to in this section as the 6 ‘‘FRA’’) shall establish and maintain a portal and cor- 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:50 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 700 IS responding database through which the FRA shall receive 1 information on blocked railroad-highway grade crossings 2 as a 3-year pilot program. 3 (b) CONTENTS.—The portal established pursuant to 4 subsection (a) shall— 5 (1) provide examples to users regarding com- 6 mon causes of blocked crossings, such as— 7 (A) idling or moving trains; or 8 (B) instances when lights or gates are acti- 9 vated when no train is present; 10 (2) provide the complainant with the contact in- 11 formation for reporting a blocked crossing to the rel- 12 evant railroad; and 13 (3) encourage the complainant to report the 14 blocked crossing to the relevant railroad. 15 (c) COMPLAINTS.—The portal established pursuant 16 to subsection (a) shall be programmed to receive com- 17 plaints from the general public about blocked railroad- 18 highway grade crossings. Any complaint reported through 19 the portal shall indicate whether the complainant also re- 20 ported the blocked crossing to the relevant railroad. 21 (d) INFORMATION RECEIVED.—In reviewing com- 22 plaints received pursuant to subsection (c), the FRA, to 23 the extent practicable, shall review the information re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:50 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 700 IS ceived from the complainant to account for duplicative or 1 erroneous reporting. 2 (e) USE OF INFORMATION.—The information re- 3 ceived and maintained in the database established pursu- 4 ant to subsection (a) shall be used by FRA— 5 (1) to assist the FRA in identifying the loca- 6 tions and potential impacts of frequent and long-du- 7 ration blocked railroad-highway grade crossings; 8 (2) as a basis for outreach to communities, 9 emergency responders, and railroads; and 10 (3) to support collaboration in the prevention of 11 incidents at railroad-highway grade crossings. 12 (f) SHARING INFORMATION RECEIVED.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The FRA shall implement 14 and make publicly available procedures for sharing 15 any nonaggregated information received through the 16 portal established pursuant to subsection (a) with 17 the public. 18 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 19 section may be construed to authorize the FRA to 20 make publicly available sensitive security informa- 21 tion. 22 (g) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—If the information 23 submitted to the portal established pursuant to subsection 24 (a) is insufficient to determine the locations and potential 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:50 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 700 IS impacts of frequent and long-duration blocked railroad- 1 highway grade crossings, the FRA may collect, from the 2 general public and from State and local law enforcement 3 personnel, such additional information as may be nec- 4 essary to make such determinations. 5 (h) LIMITATIONS.—Complaints, data, and other in- 6 formation received through the portal established pursu- 7 ant to subsection (a) may not be used— 8 (1) to infer or extrapolate the rate or instances 9 of crossings beyond the data received through the 10 portal; or 11 (2) for any regulatory or enforcement purposes 12 except those specifically described in this section. 13 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the estab- 14 lishment of the pilot program under subsection (a), the 15 Administrator of the FRA shall submit a report to the 16 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 17 the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and In- 18 frastructure of the House of Representatives that de- 19 scribes— 20 (1) where, when, for how long, and what im- 21 pacts have resulted from frequent and long-duration 22 blocked highway-rail grade crossings based on the 23 information received through the portal established 24 pursuant to subsection (a); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:50 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 700 IS (2)(A) whether and how the FRA verified the 1 accuracy of the complaints submitted to such portal; 2 and 3 (B)(i) if the portal continues to be the most ef- 4 fective manner through which to collect such infor- 5 mation; or 6 (ii) if changes to the portal could improve its ef- 7 fectiveness; 8 (3) how the FRA used the data compiled by 9 such portal to assess the underlying cause and over- 10 all impacts of blocked crossings; and 11 (4) the engagement of the FRA with affected 12 parties in order to identify and facilitate solutions to 13 any trends or problems identified by data received 14 and maintained through the portal and cor- 15 responding database. 16 (j) SUNSET.—The section shall have no force or ef- 17 fect beginning on the date that is 3 years after the date 18 of the enactment of this Act. 19 SEC. 2. RAILWAY HIGHWAY CROSSING PROGRAM STUDY. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 21 shall evaluate the requirements of the railway-highway 22 crossings program authorized under section 130 of title 23 23, United States Code, to determine whether— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:50 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 700 IS (1) the requirements of the program provide 1 States sufficient flexibility to adequately address 2 current and emerging grade-crossing safety issues; 3 (2) the structure of the program provides suffi- 4 cient incentive and resources to States and local 5 agencies to make changes at grade crossing that are 6 most effective at reducing deaths and injuries; 7 (3) there are appropriate tools and resources to 8 support States in using data-driven programs to de- 9 termine the most cost-effective use of program 10 funds; and 11 (4) any statutory changes are necessary to im- 12 prove the effectiveness of the program. 13 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 14 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor- 15 tation shall submit a report to the Committee on Com- 16 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the 17 Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Sen- 18 ate, and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- 19 ture of the House of Representatives that describes the 20 results of the evaluation under subsection (a), including 21 any recommended statutory changes referred to in sub- 22 section (a)(4). 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:50 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS