Darin K. Kosmak

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Grade Crossing Safety Initiativesin Texas

• Darin K. Kosmak
• Rail Highway Section Director
• Texas Department of Transportation
• Rail Division
• Austin, Texas

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2010 Dedicated Fund Programs

• Federal RR Signal - 15.0 M
• Federal RR Grade Separation - 25.0 M
• State Grade Crossing Replanking - 3.5 M
• State RR Signal Maintenance - 1.1M
• Total dedicated fund programs 44.6 M /
  YR

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Program Overview

• Texas has most public highway-rail grade
  crossings (9,784) RXR crashes in U.S.
• Auto-train collisions, injuries and fatalities
  have decreased by 68 over past 20 years.
• Lowest reported fatalities in each of past two
  years (2008 09).
• During FY 2010, Railroads installed 143 crossing
  signal projects at cost of 30.4M.
• In FY 2010, 33 Highway-rail grade separation
  projects went to contract statewide.

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State Replanking Program

• One of only a few remaining state funded programs
  of work for resurfacing on-system crossings
• The Commission reauthorizes and funds the program
  as part of the UTP.
• Program only funds reimbursements to Railroads.
  TCP and approach work must be funded thru TxDOT
  district maintenance budgets.
• 2010 Program funded 46 projects at a cost of
• 3.16 Million.
• Project work is contracted
• directly with the operating
• railroad company.

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Federal Railroad Administration Crossing Safety
Action Plan

• Federal Rail Safety Improvement Act
• Passed into Law on October 16, 2008
• FRA Final Rule issued June 28, 2010
• Requires 10 States with highest number of fatal
  crashes to implement crossing safety action
  plans.
• Inventory Reporting
• EN Signs/numbers
• Crash reporting

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Texas Crossing Safety Action PlanGoals
Objectives

• Identify Crossings with Multi-Collisions
• Identify and Evaluate Crossing Crash Data at
  Multi-Collision crossings
• Identify Evaluate Other Statewide Crossing
  Safety Needs to Focus Mitigation Efforts
• Develop 5-Year Safety
• Action Improvement
• Implementation Plan

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Crossing Safety Improvement Stakeholders Meeting

• Developed List of Safety Action Plan
  Recommendations for Program Areas
• Evaluation
• Engineering
• Education
• Enforcement

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Program Area RecommendationsEvaluation

• Improve Communication to Stakeholders of RXR
  Safety Improvement Programs Strategies
• Research Provide Collision Data to Identify
  Multi-Collision Crossings
• Update TxDOT Priority Index Formula

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Program Area Recommendations Engineering

• Use Sec. 130 funds to require closures
• Preemption Upgrades
• Local participation to encourage low cost safety
  improvements YIELD/STOP signs, AW signs, medians
  

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Program Area RecommendationsEducation

• Driver Education Tools Education Materials
• Operation Lifesaver Focus Mitigation Efforts to
  high-incident regions
• Update Re-Publish TxDOT RXR Public Information
  Materials on Website E-mail list.

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2003-07 Crash Data Analysis at Multi-Collision
Crossings

• Total of 1,328 collisions at 1,044 crossings
• Casualties Non-injury 60, injury-only 31,
  fatal 9
• 61 of total collision-crossings had active
  warning devices in place
• 35 of crashes occurred at active crossings where
  multiple-collisions were reported
• 80 of the 1,328 collisions occurred at crossings
  located within close
• proximity of a nearby
• Highway Intersection

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Collision Analysis of Crossings Located Near
Highway Intersections

• 229 of 803 reported RR active warning devices
  interconnected with nearby traffic signals
• Of the 229 reports, 46 occurred at
  multi-collision crossings
• 42 occurred at crossings located less than 75
  feet from adjacent
• highway intersection,
• 69 of the crossings
• had active warning
• devices

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Conclusions of Collision Analysis

• Higher incident of collisions at crossings
• 1. Located adjacent to highway intersections
• 2. With multi-collisions located adjacent to
  highway intersections
• 3. With railroad signals interconnected with
  adjacent traffic signals

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Texas Crossing Safety Action Plan 5-Year
Implementation Plan

• Education Enforcement
• Coordinate with Texas Operation Lifesaver to
  focus crossing safety mitigation efforts in
  auto-train collision high incident regions.
• Print second edition of Grade Crossing Law
  Enforcement pocket guides.
• Update re-publish TxDOT RXR Public Information
  Handbook materials on TxDOT website.
• Communicate events and new information to e-mail
  group account of crossing safety stakeholders.

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Texas Crossing Safety Action Plan 5-Year
Implementation Plan

• Evaluation Engineering
• Include Gated Crossings Reporting Multiple
  Collisions in TX PI Formula Rankings
• Upgrade Preemption at Interconnected Crossings
• Focus on Crossing Corridor Safety Upgrade
  Projects
• Install more YIELD/STOP signs at Passive
  Crossings
• Identify Passive Crossings w/ Limited Sight
  Distance for Signal Upgrade or Closure
• Local Cost participation for road work (medians,
  curbs), utilities, ROW, Quiet Zones, Traffic
  Signal upgrades
• Railroad Cost Participation for Wayside upgrades,
  replanking, closing crossings, and signal/gate
  re-hab

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Texas Crossing Safety Action Plan 5-Year
Implementation Plan

• Evaluation Engineering
• Monitor and update annual performance workload
  measure of signalized public railroad
  crossings.
• Establish new performance workload measure
  reduction of crossings experiencing
  multi-collisions
• Establish new performance workload measure
  RXR Fatal Serious Injury Crash Rate
• Conduct research to develop warrants for passive
  to active upgrades at low volume crossings
• Upgrade railroad crossing inventory database,
  update priority index, and continue crash data
  analysis

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Developing Warrants for Active Warning Devices
at Low-Volume Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

• Project Abstract
• Two-year research project.
• Develop a highway-rail crossing prioritization
  system.
• Revised safety index and warrants for active
  warning devices at low-volume highway-rail grade
  crossings.
• The Research Scope
• Emphasizes low-volume crossings in the
  lower-third of the priority list generated with
  the current Texas Priority Index.
• variables in the safety index present challenging
  mathematical characteristics and must be modeled
  using appropriate methods.
• Deliverables will facilitate rail-highway
  crossing management in Texas, ensuring proper
  consideration of low-volume roads when applying
  Section 130 funding mechanisms

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Developing Warrants for Active Warning Devices
at Low-Volume Highway-Rail Grade Crossings

• Project Organization Implementation
• At the end of the first year
• TxDOT will have a provisional set of warrants,
  and a list of crossings eligible for improvements
  with cost estimates. Evaluation of this early
  implementation will be used to refine the
  warrants during the second year.
• At the end of the project, TxDOT will have
  revised warrants based on this practical
  implementation, a new list of eligible crossings
  based on the revised warrants, a revised safety
  index and protection factors, a methodology to
  rank crossings that meet those warrants, and a
  prioritized list of all crossings, prepared with
  the new methodology.

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Texas Railroad Crossing Inventory Database
Project - TRAX

• The vendor has been selected and is now under
  contract to develop the new database
• TRAX will be web-based, geospatial, data
  integration database for managing crossing
  inventory, crash records analysis, project
  prioritization/selection, project workflow
  tracking, financial processing and contract
  management
• TRAX is a two (2) year project. District and
  Railroad staff will be involved in development
  testing of the database
• TRAX will replace TRACI (web based) TxRAIL
  (internal) databases currently in use by TxDOT

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Keys to Success

• Timely and accurate prep of project PSE
• Dedicated Funding
• Timely Reporting
• Accurate Records
• Good Database
• Communication Coordination Cooperation

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Questions?darin.kosmak_at_txdot.gov