RailwayReceiving a report on the crossing emergency line
A call comes in on the toll-free number of the blue sign at a grade crossing. As the dispatching railroad, you take it directly and promptly, find out which crossing it is and what unsafe condition is reported, start the response the federal rule sets for that kind of report and keep a record of every step. It is the receiving end of the Emergency Notification System every railroad keeps for its highway-rail and pathway grade crossings.
Free to startScenarios
- A live person at the railroad answers the call.
- An automated answering system: the caller picks an option from a single menu and is transferred right away to a live operator.
- A third-party telephone service takes the call on the railroad's behalf.
- A crossing where every train is authorized at 20 mph or less, and the railroad uses an answering machine.
The steps
- Take the call on the toll-free number shown on the ENS sign, directly and promptly.
- Get the location: the crossing's U.S. DOT National Crossing Inventory number and, if it applies, the highway name.
- Find out what is reported: a warning system that malfunctions or fails, a vehicle or other obstruction blocking a track, a blocked view of an approaching train, or any other unsafe condition.
- Ask whether the caller is a railroad employee, a law enforcement officer, a highway traffic official or another public agency employee acting officially, or a member of the public.
- Note the date and time the report was received and any other detail from the caller that helps restore the crossing to a safe condition.
- For a warning system problem or an obstruction on the track, start the remedial action of the rule: every train authorized through the crossing is contacted first.
- For a blocked view or another unsafe condition: if you also maintain the crossing, investigate in time and correct it if lawful and feasible; if not, inform the maintaining railroad.
- Record the actions taken before the condition is resolved, what was done to remedy it and when, or why no action was taken.
Safety rules that stop the station
- With an answering machine, the messages are retrieved immediately before the start of operations each day.
- A third-party service immediately passes the railroad the nature and location of the condition, the DOT number, who reported it, the date and time and any extra detail; the railroad remains responsible for what that service does.
To pass
- Crossing number, kind of condition, who called, date and time recorded, and the right remedial action started.
- The records are kept at least one year from the railroad's last activity on the report and made available to FRA.
- Where several railroads dispatch trains through the crossing, the primary dispatching railroad they appoint receives all reports and warns the other railroads.
- A report that does not come in through the ENS line falls outside this federal procedure.
Official source
49 CFR Part 234, Subpart E: Emergency Notification Systems at Grade Crossings
The eCFR publishes 49 CFR Part 234, Subpart E free: how a railroad may answer the emergency line, what each kind of report sets in motion and what the record must hold.
Making Synapses is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the Federal Railroad Administration or any railroad. Agency names and regulations are named only to describe the content.