D-BLOC Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3698 To amend title 49, United States Code, to limit railroad carriers from blocking railway-highway crossings, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Mr. COOPER (for himself and Mrs. NAPOLITANO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to limit railroad carriers from blocking railway-highway crossings, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Don’t BLock Our 4 Communities Act’’ or the ‘‘D-BLOC Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3698 IH SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF 10-MINUTE TIME LIMIT FOR 1 BLOCKING PUBLIC HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE 2 CROSSINGS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 201 of 4 title 49, United States Code, as amended by this division, 5 is further amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘§ 20169. Time limit for blocking public highway-rail 7 grade crossing 8 ‘‘(a) TIME LIMIT.—A railroad carrier may not cause 9 a blocked crossing incident that is longer than 10 minutes 10 in duration, unless the blocked crossing incident is caused 11 by— 12 ‘‘(1) a casualty or serious injury; 13 ‘‘(2) an accident; 14 ‘‘(3) a track obstruction; 15 ‘‘(4) actions necessary to comply with Federal 16 rail safety laws, regulations, or orders issued there- 17 under unless the action to comply could reasonably 18 occur at a different time or location; 19 ‘‘(5) actions necessary to adhere to section 20 24308; 21 ‘‘(6) a train fully contained within rail yard lim- 22 its or fully contained in a rail siding; 23 ‘‘(7) an act of God; or 24 ‘‘(8) a derailment or a safety appliance equip- 25 ment failure that prevents the train from advancing. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3698 IH ‘‘(b) INVESTIGATION OF FREQUENTLY BLOCKED 1 CROSSINGS.—For any public highway-rail grade crossing 2 that has had 3 or more blocked crossing incidents that 3 exceed the time limit set forth in subsection (a) and are 4 reported to the blocked crossing database, and such inci- 5 dents have occurred on at least 3 calendar days within 6 a 30-day period, the Secretary shall— 7 ‘‘(1) provide an electronic notice of the number 8 of reported blocked crossing incidents to the railroad 9 carrier that owns the public highway-rail grade 10 crossing; 11 ‘‘(2) investigate the causes of the blocked cross- 12 ing incidents; and 13 ‘‘(3) investigate possible measures to reduce the 14 frequency and duration of blocked crossing incidents 15 at such grade crossing. 16 ‘‘(c) RECORDKEEPING.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A railroad carrier shall, 18 upon receiving a notice under subsection (b), main- 19 tain train location data records for the public high- 20 way-rail grade crossing that was the subject of the 21 notice. 22 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORDS.—The train loca- 23 tion data records required under paragraph (1) shall 24 include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3698 IH ‘‘(A) a list of all blocked crossing incidents 1 at the public highway-rail grade crossing that is 2 the subject of the report exceeding 10 minutes; 3 ‘‘(B) the cause of the blocked crossing inci- 4 dent (to the extent available); 5 ‘‘(C) train length; and 6 ‘‘(D) the estimated duration of each 7 blocked crossing incident. 8 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—Beginning on the date 9 on which a railroad carrier receives a notice under 10 subsection (b), the Secretary may consult with the 11 carrier for a period of 60 days to address concerns 12 with blocked crossing incidents at the public high- 13 way-rail grade crossing that is the subject of the no- 14 tice. 15 ‘‘(4) EXPIRATION OF DATA COLLECTION.—The 16 requirement to maintain records under paragraph 17 (1) shall cease with respect to a public highway-rail 18 grade crossing noticed under subsection (b)(2) if 19 there are no reports submitted to the blocked cross- 20 ing database for blocked crossing incidents reported 21 to occur at such grade crossing during the previous 22 365 consecutive calendar days. 23 ‘‘(d) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3698 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may issue 1 civil penalties in accordance with section 21301 to 2 railroad carriers for violations of subsection (a) oc- 3 curring 60 days after the date of submission of a no- 4 tice under subsection (b). 5 ‘‘(2) RELEASE OF RECORDS.—Upon the request 6 of, and under requirements set by, the Secretary, 7 railroad carriers shall provide the records main- 8 tained pursuant to subsection (c)(1) to the Adminis- 9 trator of the Federal Railroad Administration. 10 ‘‘(3) ALTERNATE ROUTE EXEMPTION.—Civil 11 penalties may not be issued for violations of sub- 12 section (a) that occur at a public highway-rail grade 13 crossing if no alternate route created by a public 14 highway-rail grade separation exists within a half 15 mile by road of such public highway-rail grade cross- 16 ing. 17 ‘‘(4) GRADE SEPARATION PROJECT.—Civil pen- 18 alties may not be issued for violations of subsection 19 (a) if the violation occurs at a public highway-rail 20 grade crossing for which there is a proposed grade 21 separation project— 22 ‘‘(A) that has received written agreement 23 from the relevant local authorities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3698 IH ‘‘(B) for which rail carrier and project 1 funding from all parties has been budgeted. 2 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining civil 3 penalties under this section, the Secretary shall con- 4 sider increased penalties in a case in which a pattern 5 of the blocked crossing incidents continue to cause 6 delays to State or local emergency services. 7 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION TO AMTRAK AND COMMUTER 8 RAILROADS.—This section shall not apply to Amtrak or 9 commuter authorities, including Amtrak and commuter 10 authorities’ operations run or dispatched by a Class I rail- 11 road. 12 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 ‘‘(1) BLOCKED CROSSING DATABASE.—The 14 term ‘blocked crossing database’ means the national 15 blocked crossing database established under section 16 20170. 17 ‘‘(2) BLOCKED CROSSING INCIDENT.—The term 18 ‘blocked crossing incident’ means a circumstance in 19 which a train, locomotive, rail car, or other rail 20 equipment is stopped in a manner that obstructs 21 travel at a public highway-rail grade crossing. 22 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE CROSS- 23 ING.—The term ‘public highway-rail grade crossing’ 24 means a location within a State in which a public 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3698 IH highway, road, or street, including associated side- 1 walks and pathways, crosses 1 or more railroad 2 tracks at grade.’’. 3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub- 4 chapter II of chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, 5 is further amended by adding at the end the following new 6 item: 7 ‘‘20169. Time limit for blocking public highway-rail grade crossing.’’. SEC. 3. NATIONAL BLOCKED CROSSING DATABASE. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 201 of 9 title 49, United States Code, is further amended by adding 10 at the end the following: 11 ‘‘§ 20170. National blocked crossing database 12 ‘‘(a) DATABASE.—Not later than 45 days after the 13 date of enactment of the D-BLOC Act, the Secretary of 14 Transportation shall establish a national blocked crossings 15 database for the public to report blocked crossing inci- 16 dents. 17 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC AWARENESS.—Not later than 60 days 18 after the date of enactment of the D-BLOC Act, the Sec- 19 retary shall require each railroad carrier to publish the 20 active link to report blocked crossing incidents on the 21 website of the national blocked crossings database de- 22 scribed in subsection (a) on the home page of the publicly- 23 available website of the railroad carrier. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3698 IH ‘‘(c) BLOCKED CROSSING INCIDENT; PUBLIC HIGH- 1 WAY-RAIL GRADE CROSSING.—In this section, the terms 2 ‘blocked crossing incident’ and ‘public highway-rail grade 3 crossing’ have the meanings given the terms in section 4 20169.’’. 5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub- 6 chapter II of chapter 201 of title 49, United States Code, 7 is further amended by adding at the end the following new 8 item: 9 ‘‘20170. National blocked crossing database.’’. SEC. 4. RAILROAD POINT OF CONTACT FOR BLOCKED 10 CROSSING MATTERS. 11 Section 20152 of title 49, United States Code, is 12 amended— 13 (1) in subsection (a)— 14 (A) in paragraph (1)— 15 (i) in subparagraph (C) by striking 16 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 17 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 18 (D) as subparagraph (E); and 19 (iii) by inserting the following after 20 subparagraph (C): 21 ‘‘(D) blocked crossing incident, as defined 22 in section 20169; or’’; 23 (B) in paragraph (4)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3698 IH (i) by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)(C) or 1 (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (C), 2 (D), or (E) of paragraph (1)’’; and 3 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 4 (C) in paragraph (5) by striking the period 5 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 6 (D) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(6) upon receiving a report of a blocked cross- 8 ing pursuant to paragraph (1)(D), the railroad car- 9 rier shall, within 14 days of receipt of the report— 10 ‘‘(A) verify that the public highway-rail 11 grade crossing, as defined in section 20174, was 12 blocked for a period of at least 10 minutes; and 13 ‘‘(B) upon positive verification of the re- 14 port, enter the report into the national blocked 15 crossings database established in section 20174; 16 and 17 ‘‘(7) promptly inform the Secretary of any up- 18 date to the number maintained under paragraph 19 (1).’’; and 20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS.—The 22 Secretary shall make any telephone number established 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3698 IH under subsection (a) publicly available on the website of 1 the Department of Transportation.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3698.IH H3698 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS