This report was prepared as part of the June 1994 Departmental Rail-Highway Crossing Safety Action Plan. Initiative V.B, Data and Research-Demographics, called for a study describing the circumstances under which fatal rail crossing crashes occur and characteristics of the drivers involved in such crashes. This report compares fatal motor vehicle rail crossing crashes with fatal crashes occurring at intersections and all fatal crashes. Data from NHTSA's Fatal Accident Reporting System, supplemented with information from Claritas, a commercially available geodemographic database, were used to provide the descriptive statistics.

"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 755: Comprehensive Costs of Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Crashes describes a process for estimating the costs of highway-rail grade crossing crashes. A spreadsheet-based tool to facilitate use of the cost estimation process is available online." --Publisher description.

The American public has a fascination with railroad wrecks that goes back a long way. One hundred years ago, staged railroad accidents were popular events. At the Iowa State fair in 1896, 89,000 people paid $20 each, at current prices, to see two trains, throttles wide open, collide with each other. "Head-on Joe" Connolly made a business out of "cornfield meets" holding seventy-three events in thirty-six years. Picture books of train wrecks do good business presumably because a train wreck can guarantee a spectacular destruction of property without the messy loss of life associated with aircraft accidents. A "train wreck" has also entered the popular vocabulary in a most unusual way. When political manoeuvering leads to failure to pass the federal budget, and a shutdown is likely of government services, this is widely called a "train wreck. " In business and team sports, bumbling and lack of coordination leading to a spectacular and public failure to perform is also called "causing a train wreck. " A person or organization who is disorganized may be labelled a "train wreck. " It is therefore not surprising that the public perception of the safety of railroads centers on images of twisted metal and burning tank cars, and a general feeling that these events occur quite often. After a series of railroad accidents, such as occurred in the winter of 1996 or the summer of 1997, there are inevitable calls that government "should do something.

This Technology Sharing Report sets forth pertinent information on currently available types of grade crossing surfaces as an aid in choosing physically and economically suitable surfaces for individual crossing or groups of crossing to be installed or improved. Trade names and manufacturers' identification are solely for convenience of the user and not endorsements by DOT. Crossing surface products from 22 suppliers and soil stabilization fabrics from 12 manufacturers are discussed.

This report provides documentation and presents the results of a study to improve the safety of light rail transit (LRT) in semiexclusive rights-of-way where light rail vehicles operate at speeds greater than 35 mph through crossings with streets and pedestrians pathways. This report also presents the results of field tests conducted to improve the safety of higher speed LRT systems through grade crossing design.