Sec. 2404. Blocked crossing portal

694 words·~3 min read·/bill/117/s/2016/rs/section-2404

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The Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration shall establish a 3-year blocked crossing portal, which shall include the maintenance of the portal and corresponding database to receive, store, and retrieve information regarding blocked highway-rail grade crossings. The Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration shall establish a blocked crossing portal that— collects information from the public, including first responders, regarding blocked highway-rail grade crossing events; solicits the apparent cause of the blocked crossing and provides examples of common causes of blocked crossings, such as idling trains or instances when lights or gates are activated when no train is present; provides each complainant with the contact information for reporting a blocked crossing to the relevant railroad; and encourages each complainant to report the blocked crossing to the relevant railroad.

The blocked crossing portal shall be programmed to receive complaints from the general public about blocked highway-rail grade crossings. Any complaint reported through the portal shall indicate whether the complainant also reported the blocked crossing to the relevant railroad. In reviewing complaints received pursuant to subsection (c), the Federal Railroad Administration shall review, to the extent practicable, the information received from the complainant to account for duplicative or erroneous reporting.

The information received and maintained in the blocked crossing portal database shall be used by the Federal Railroad Administration— to identify frequent and long-duration blocked highway-rail grade crossings; as a basis for conducting outreach to communities, emergency responders, and railroads; to support collaboration in the prevention of incidents at highway-rail grade crossings; and to assess the impacts of blocked crossings. The Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration shall implement and make publicly available procedures for sharing any nonaggregated information received through the blocked crossing portal with the public.

Nothing in this section may be construed to authorize the Federal Railroad Administration to make publically available sensitive security information. If the information submitted to the blocked crossing portal is insufficient to determine the locations and potential impacts of blocked highway-rail grade crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration may collect, from the general public, State and local law enforcement personnel, and others as appropriate, such additional information as may be necessary to make such determinations.

Complaints, data, and other information received through the blocked crossing portal may not be used— to infer or extrapolate the rate or instances of crossings beyond the data received through the portal; or for any regulatory or enforcement purposes except those specifically described in this section. The Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration shall publish an annual report on a public website regarding the blocked crossing program, including the underlying causes of blocked crossings, program challenges, and other findings.

Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration shall submit a report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives that describes— based on the information received through the blocked crossing portal, frequent and long-duration blocked highway-rail grade crossings, including the locations, dates, durations, and impacts resulting from such occurrences; the Federal Railroad Administration’s process for verifying the accuracy of the complaints submitted to the blocked crossing portal, including whether the portal continues to be effective in collecting such information and identifying blocked crossings; the Federal Railroad Administration’s use of the data compiled by the blocked crossing portal to assess the underlying cause and overall impacts of blocked crossings; the engagement of the Federal Railroad Administration with affected parties to identify and facilitate solutions to frequent and long-duration blocked highway-rail grade crossings identified by the blocked crossing portal; and whether the blocked crossing portal continues to be an effective method to collect blocked crossing information and what changes could improve its effectiveness.

This section (other than subsection (k)) shall have no force or effect beginning on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act. Nothing in this section may be construed to invalidate any authority of the Secretary with respect to blocked highway-rail grade crossings. The Secretary may continue to use any such authority after the sunset date set forth in subsection (j).