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A bill to establish a portal and database to receive and maintain information regarding blocked railroad-highway grade crossings and to require the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate the requirements of the railway-highway crossings program.

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Mar 11, 2021

This bill provides statutory authority for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to establish and maintain a portal and corresponding database through which it shall receive information on blocked railroad-highway grade crossings as a three-year pilot program.

The FRA must use information from the database (1) to assist in identifying the locations and potential impacts of frequent and long-duration blocked railroad-highway grade crossings; (2) as a basis for outreach to communities, emergency responders, and railroads; and (3) to support collaboration in the prevention of incidents at railroad-highway grade crossings.

Additionally, the Department of Transportation must evaluate the requirements of its railway-highway crossing program to determine whether

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the program provides states sufficient flexibility to adequately address current and emerging grade-crossing safety issues,

the structure of the program provides sufficient incentive and resources to states and local agencies to make changes at grade crossings that are most effective at reducing deaths and injuries,

there are appropriate tools and resources to support states in using data-driven programs to determine the most cost-effective use of program funds, and

any statutory changes are necessary to improve the effectiveness of the program.

Read the summary on Congress.gov
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Who introduced it

Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] · R–NE

Committees

  • Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
4 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

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  1. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

  2. Introduced in Senate

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

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