By Richard N. Shapiro, Railroad Injury Attorney

Under new rules announced by the Federal Railroad Administration on March 3, 2011, drivers and pedestrians will be able to quickly alert rail companies about problems such as broken gates, uneven pavement, blocked sightlines and vehicles stalled on tracks. Every crossing will have a sign posted with the crossing’s ID number and a toll-free telephone number to call. This, FRA explained, will permit companies to notify train engineers, conductors and trackmen about hazards.

Amtrak, CSX and Norfolk Southern are already required to have systems in place for gathering and disseminating warnings about unsafe rail crossings. The new rules, set to take effect this May, all train operators such as the Eastern Shore Railroad must have signs at highway grade crossings and at paths where people on foot or riding bicycles can cross tracks. FRA estimates “the proposed rule would affect 211,401 highway-rail and pathway grade crossings and 594 railroads.”

Federal regulators have been pushing rail companies to act to prevent accidents at crossings since passage of the Rail Safety Improvement Act in 2008. Those efforts are more than needed. Each year, about 9,000 accidents occur at crossings. A majority result in injuries, and hundreds cause deaths. A local reminder of how deadly wrecks involving passenger vehicles and trains came with news that a man driving a pickup truck in New Kent County, Virginia (VA) was killed when an Amtrak commuter train hit him. The private crossing had no gates.

EJL

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is an injury law firm with a long history of representing railroad workers in FELA and other railroad injury cases. Check out our railroad injury case results to see for yourself. Our offices are in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), and Elizabeth City, North Carolina (NC). Our lawyers hold licenses in VA, NC, SC, WV, KY and DC and have handled hundreds of railroad injury and FELA cases throughout the eastern U.S. We would like to send you one of our FREE reports about railroad injury and FELA cases, including Dos and Don’ts When Injured at a Railroad — The Railroad Worker’s FELA Rights and What Railroad Claim Agents Won’t Tell You (But You Must Know). We provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at (800) 752-0042 before giving any statement or talking to a railroad claims agent. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Furthermore, our lawyers proudly moderate the Yardlimits Railroad Community Forum and donate to the Fallen Brother Fund.