HR0928 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0928 LRB093 22127 DRH 50856 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in its Interim Final Rule for the Use of Horns at Highway-Rail Crossings, using the conclusions of a statistical study by the research corporation Westat, Inc., implies that the collision risk at gated crossings in Northeastern Illinois where the train horn is not routinely sounded is 17.3% higher than gated crossings in the continental United States where the horn is sounded, and due to this factor, municipalities that want to maintain existing quiet crossings will have to invest in expensive supplemental safety measures to lower the risk to make up for the implied 17.3% differential that results from routine horn blowing, meaning that the total cost will likely exceed $10 million to maintain the existing quiet; and

WHEREAS, The FRA admits, however, that the Westat results are not statistically significant at a conventional level (the result of having only a 69% confidence level, or a nearly one in three chance of not being relevant), bearing out the "puzzling Chicago anomaly" described in an FRA study in 2000; and

WHEREAS, A team of statistical experts from TransInfo LLC and the University of Illinois at Chicago, contracted to conduct an analysis of the Westat study, analyzed the Westat risk assessment data and procedures and confirmed that, according to the standard principles used in statistical inference, the FRA/Westat conclusions were not statistically significant, and TransInfo/UIC offered a variation of the Westat model that produced statistically significant results, determining that a more likely estimate of the risk of a collision at an existing quiet crossing in Northeastern Illinois is 26.4% lower, when compared to crossings in the continental United States where the horn is blown; and

WHEREAS, The TransInfo/UIC study concluded that "based on the FRA data, there is no reason to believe that in the Chicago Area banning the sounding of horns increases the chance of collisions at gated public highway-rail grade crossings in northeastern Illinois"; and

WHEREAS, The FRA's Interim Final Rule will force municipalities to spend millions of dollars on measures at quiet crossings that are sufficiently safe by the FRA's own standard, and this would be a wasteful and ineffective result from a flawed analysis that lacks any statistical validity and would not serve to improve overall railroad crossing safety in Northeastern Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Commerce Commission worked with the communities and the railroads of Northeastern Illinois in determining where it was appropriate to excuse the routine blowing of the horns, every quiet crossing has been equipped with a minimum level of active safety equipment, every quiet crossing has to maintain an acceptable safety record or ICC will rescind the excusal until appropriate safety measures are put into place, and the ICC, railroads, and communities have invested a significant amount of resources in addressing the highest risk crossings with the appropriate safety measures necessary to reduce the risk of future collisions; and

WHEREAS, A focus on education programs such as Operation Lifesaver has supplemented those efforts of the ICC, the communities, and the railroads, and this combination of factors is perhaps the most likely reason behind the FRA's self-described "puzzling Chicago anomaly" and provides a model on which to build a common sense alternative to the FRA's Interim Final Rule; and

WHEREAS, The statutory mandate behind the Interim Final Rule provides that the U.S. Secretary of Transportation may except from the horn-sounding requirement "any categories of rail operations or categories of highway-rail grade crossings....that the Secretary determines not to present a significant risk with respect to loss of life or serious personal injury"; and

WHEREAS, Northeastern Illinois as a whole appears to present a category of highway-rail grade crossings that must be considered by the regulations as allowed for under the Secretary of Transportation's exception: a region with a significant concentration of existing quiet crossings overseen by a State program where the statistical risk of collisions at crossings where the locomotive horn is not routinely sounded is no greater than if the locomotive horn is routinely sounded, and this categorical exception could apply to other regions that are similarly situated; and

WHEREAS, An alternative crossing safety program for Northeastern Illinois would include the following elements: delegation to an appropriate State of the authority to implement and manage the regional program allowed under the Secretary of Transportation's exception; retention by the FRA of oversight of this program, with the FRA responsible for monitoring the program's effectiveness; retention by the FRA of authority to recommend adjustments if the program is determined to have a detrimental impact on crossing safety; State agency supervision of the creation of any quiet zone; delegation to the appropriate State agency of authority to establish acceptable safety thresholds, designate quiet zone status, and enforce quiet zones, including the authority to enforce railroad compliance with the quiet zone; input from the railroads, affected agencies, public authorities, and municipal officials in determining the establishment of a quiet zone; adequate warning signs at all quet zone crossings; a requirement that all crossings within a quiet zone demonstrate a proven safety record, as defined by an acceptable relevant collision experience, such as the current ICC standard of no more than three relevant collisions over a five year period; limitations on the creation of individual quiet crossings; and a public service campaign to educate motorists and pedestrians as to the consequences of unsafe behavior at railroad crossings and to warn them that trains will not routinely sound horns as they approach crossings; and

WHEREAS, The FRA apparently has already established precedence for allowing the regional exception approach, having provided a separate treatment to the Florida communities impacted by Emergency Order 15, allowing them to establish quiet zones prior to the publication of the Interim Final Rule; therefore be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the FRA to apply the Secretary of Transportation's exception to the FRA Interim Final Rule to any region that includes a significant concentration of existing quiet crossings overseen by a State program under which the statistical risk of collisions at crossings where the locomotive horn is not routinely sounded is no greater than if the locomotive horn is routinely sounded; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge application of the Secretary of Transportation's exception to the FRA Interim Final Rule to existing quiet crossings in Northeastern Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, and to each member of the Illinois congressional delegation.