Making Synapses · Bringing Knowledge to Mankind
RailwayA vehicle blocking a grade crossing
Someone calls the number on the blue sign at a railroad crossing: a vehicle is stuck on the tracks. As the railroad taking the call, you warn every train headed for that crossing before it arrives, call the police with what they need and get the track cleared. It is the federal emergency notification procedure every railroad follows at highway-rail and pathway grade crossings.
Free to startScenarios
- A disabled vehicle on the tracks at a highway-rail grade crossing; your railroad maintains the crossing.
- The same report, but another railroad maintains the crossing.
- An obstruction blocking the track at a pathway grade crossing.
The steps
- Take the call on the railroad's toll-free emergency line, directly and promptly.
- Get the crossing's U.S. DOT National Crossing Inventory number, printed on the blue sign.
- Confirm what is reported: a disabled vehicle or other obstruction blocking a track.
- Promptly contact every train authorized to run through that crossing, to warn the crews before each train arrives.
- Then promptly call the law enforcement agency for that crossing, with the information they need to help remove the obstruction and keep the crossing safe.
- If your railroad maintains the crossing: promptly investigate, find out what the obstruction is and have it removed without undue delay.
- If another railroad maintains it: promptly contact that railroad and tell it about the obstruction, so it investigates and has it removed.
Safety rules that stop the station
- The trains come first: warn every train authorized through the crossing before calling the police.
- A train that is not required to carry a radio is still contacted, through its occupied controlling locomotive.
To pass
- Every train warned before it reaches the crossing, then the police, then the obstruction removed.
- The blue sign, white letters on blue at least 12 by 9 inches, shows the emergency number, what it is for and the crossing's DOT number.
- The same line also takes calls about a crossing signal that fails, a blocked view of the tracks and any other unsafe condition.
Practice each scenario
Official source
Federal · FRA, 49 CFR 234.303 and 234.305
49 CFR Part 234, Subpart E: Emergency Notification Systems at Grade Crossings
The eCFR publishes 49 CFR Part 234, Subpart E free: the emergency line, the blue sign and what the railroad must do after each kind of call.
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.