Railroad agency has high safety standards

Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005 | 7 a.m.

Regarding the Sun's Dec. 6 editorial, "Railroad crossings at risk -- report says federal government is investigating less than 1 percent of collisions at crossings":

The Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) commitment to highway-rail grade crossing safety is second to none. Indeed, our long-standing and comprehensive efforts have led to real and significant advances in the prevention of train- vehicle collisions.

From 1995 to 2004 the number of grade crossing collisions declined by 34 percent, the frequency of such collisions per million train miles decreased by 42 percent, and the number of fatalities fell by 36 percent.

The FRA is proud of this record, but more needs to be done. That is why during the past two years FRA has acted aggressively to implement new procedures to ensure railroads report all grade crossing accidents as required; more clearly define when an FRA regional office will conduct a federal grade crossing accident investigation; and create a new data-driven program to direct FRA grade crossing inspection activities.

The FRA also has renewed its partnership with local police to provide support during the course of their detailed investigations into the causes of grade crossing accidents. For example, if the local police find credible evidence that the grade crossing warning lights and gates malfunctioned, the FRA will immediately launch its own investigation into the accident.

Maintaining the progress already made in grade crossing safety requires constant vigilance. For its part, the FRA is committed to moving beyond the current level of success and is striving to make the nation's grade crossings even safer.

Had the Las Vegas Sun bothered to call the FRA before writing an editorial on this issue, they would have been able to provide their readers with a far more informed piece.

Joseph H. Boardman

Washington

The writer is the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.