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RailwayCalling the police to a grade crossing
The trains headed for the crossing are already warned. Now you call the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the crossing and give it what it needs: to help remove a vehicle stuck on the tracks, or to direct traffic while the crossing's warning system does not work. It is the second remedial action of the federal emergency notification rule.
Free to startScenarios
- A disabled vehicle blocks the track at a highway-rail grade crossing.
- A member of the public reports that the warning system of a highway-rail crossing is malfunctioning.
- The warning system of a pathway grade crossing fails.
The steps
- Confirm that every train authorized through the crossing has been contacted first.
- Promptly contact the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over that crossing.
- Tell it which crossing it is, with its U.S. DOT number, and what was reported.
- For a vehicle or other obstruction on the track: give it the information it needs to help remove the obstruction or keep the crossing safe.
- For a warning system that malfunctions or fails: give it the information it needs to direct traffic or carry out other activities that keep the crossing safe.
- Then, if you maintain the crossing, promptly investigate and determine the nature of the problem; if not, promptly contact the maintaining railroad and inform it.
- Record the call to law enforcement among the actions taken, and the time and date the condition was remedied.
Safety rules that stop the station
- The police are called after the trains, never before.
To pass
- Trains warned, then the police called with the information they need, then the cause investigated or passed to the maintaining railroad.
- A blocked view of the tracks or another unsafe condition does not call for the police: the railroad investigates in time and corrects it if lawful and feasible.
- After a credible report of a malfunction, the rule (234.305(a)) does not include the police call: the trains are warned and the maintaining railroad acts under Part 234, Subpart C.
Official source
Federal · FRA, 49 CFR 234.305 and 234.313
49 CFR Part 234, Subpart E: Emergency Notification Systems at Grade Crossings
The eCFR publishes 49 CFR Part 234, Subpart E free: 234.305 sets when the railroad calls the police and what it tells them for each kind of report.
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