[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20912]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             COMMUNITY RAIL LINE RELOCATION ASSISTANCE ACT

  Mr. LOTT. Madam President, many cities and towns across our country 
are experiencing conflicts between railroads, motor vehicles, and 
people for the use of limited and increasingly congested space in 
downtown areas. High density highway-rail grade crossings, even 
properly marked and gated ones, increase the risk of fatal accidents. 
Many rail lines cut downtown areas in half while serving few, if any, 
rail customers in the downtown area. Rail traffic can cut off one side 
of a town to vital emergency services, including fire, police, 
ambulance, and hospital services. Downtown rail corridors can hamper 
economic development by restricting access to bisected areas. Sadly, 
since September 11, we now must be concerned about freight trains 
carrying hazardous materials through the middle of densely populated 
areas being targets of terrorist actions. These problems exist in small 
and large cities and towns across the Nation.
  While TEA-21 provides some flexibility in the use of the Highway 
Trust Fund to enable States to address some of these concerns, it is 
primarily focused on solving transportation problems by building or 
modifying roads, including road overpasses and underpasses, as it 
should be. However, in many situations, this highway-rail conflict 
cannot, or should not, be fixed by cutting off or modifying a roadway. 
The answer is often to relocate the rail line.
  To address this need I introduced S. 948, the Community Rail Line 
Relocation Assistance Act of 2001. The bill would authorize the 
Secretary of Transportation to provide grants to States and communities 
to relocate a rail line where this solution makes the most sense. In 
those cases where the best solution is to build a railroad tunnel, 
underpass, or overpass, or even reroute the rail line around the 
downtown area, this bill will enable these cities and towns to afford 
to undertake such a significant infrastructure project. The bill does 
not tap the Highway Trust Fund. Instead, the rail line relocation grant 
program would compete for appropriations on an annual basis.
  S. 948 is supported by the United States Conference of Mayors, the 
National Conference of State Legislatures, the National League of 
Cities, the Association of American Railroads, the Short Line and 
Regional Railroad Association, the Railway Progress Institute, the 
National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association, and the 
Rail Supply and Service Coalition.
  The Senate may soon consider other legislation to authorize funding 
to increase security for Amtrak, other modes of transportation, and our 
nation's ports. I ask my Senate colleagues to consider the needs of 
their own States, to cosponsor S. 948, and to support inclusion of this 
provision in the next transportation authorization bill to be 
considered by the Senate. So far, working with representatives of our 
Nation's cities, I have identified 40 cities in 23 States that are 
concerned about rail crossing problems and for which rail line 
relocation may be the solution, I am sure there will be several more 
such cities that will be identified in the weeks to come. I ask 
unanimous consent that the list of these cities be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the list was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

     Cities Concerned With Rail Crossings and Rail Line Relocation

       Arizona: Marana and Tucson.
       California: Fremont, Hemet, Mountain View, Paramount and 
     Richmond.
       Colorado: Arvada.
       Georgia: Augusta.
       Iowa: Iowa City.
       Illinois: Carbondale, Elgin and Roselle.
       Indiana: Portage.
       Massachusetts: Boston.
       Minnesota: Rochester.
       Mississippi: Biloxi/Pascagoula, Greenwood, Jackson, 
     Meridian, Tupelo and Vicksburg.
       Missouri: St. Joseph.
       North Carolina: Winston-Salem.
       North Dakota: Fargo.
       Nebraska: Grand Island and Lincoln.
       Nevada: Reno.
       New York: Hempstead.
       Ohio: Brooklyn, Lima and Mansfield.
       Oklahoma: Edmond.
       Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh.
       South Carolina: Columbia.
       Tennessee: Germantown.
       Texas: Beaumont, College Station and Laredo.
       Wisconsin: Madison.

                          ____________________