APTA Responds to FMCSA Grade Crossing Proposed Rule Making

APTA sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) July 29, in response to the FMCSA proposal to amend regulations related to certain commercial motor vehicles at grade crossings, published in the Federal Register May 30. APTA urged FMCSA to reconsider the proposed rule and provided detailed data from APTA research conducted on grade crossing collisions and activation failures of automatic warning devices.

The proposed rule would exempt commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operators of buses and trucks with certain hazardous materials from stopping at railroad grade crossings, if equipped with automatic warning devices that are not in an active state. The primary justification for the proposed rule was to mitigate collisions between roadway users. In the proposed rulemaking, FMCSA stated, “…the proposed changes could also potentially mitigate rear-end crash risk for buses and CMVs transporting certain types of HM [hazardous materials] by allowing for a predictable and flow of traffic at railroad grade crossings.”

APTA has a long history of successful collaboration with USDOT and FMCSA to improve transportation safety. While APTA supports the commitment by FMCSA to streamline regulations, the association urges FMCSA to reconsider the proposed rule and stated, “Importantly, APTA is concerned that the proposal to eliminate the requirement to stop at railroad grade crossings with an inactive Active Warning Device (AWD) would increase the hazards and risks to safety for bus agencies, passenger railroads, and the general public.”

APTA substantiated its concern by providing data on the number of collisions between highway vehicles and trains due to a malfunctioning AWD as well as the number of activation failures that have occurred over the last five years and primary causes of failure.

The comments were drafted with input from several APTA committees, including the Bus Operations Committee, Bus Safety Committee, Commuter Rail Committee, and Commuter Rail CEO & COO subcommittees.

Access APTA’s matrix of regulatory and other administrative actions.