Railroad Safety: DOT Faces Challenges in Improving Grade Crossing Safety,
Track Inspection Standards, and Passenger Car Safety (Testimony,
04/01/96, GAO/T-RCED-96-114).

GAO provided information on the safety of highway railroad crossings,
commuter passenger rails and adequacy of track safety inspections. GAO
found that: (1) the leading cause of death associated with the railroad
industry involved railroad crossing accidents; (2) about half of
rail-related deaths occur because of collisions between trains and
vehicles at public railroad crossings; (3) in 1994, 501 people were
killed and 1,764 injured in railroad crossing accidents; (4) to improve
the safety of railroad crossings, the Department of Transportation (DOT)
must better target funds to high-risk areas, close more railroad
crossings, install new technologies, and develop educational programs to
increase the public's awareness of railroad crossings; (5) DOT plans are
costly and will require congressional approval; (6) the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA) is unable to adequately inspect and enforce truck
safety standards or direct transportation officials to the routes with
the highest accident potential because its database contains inaccurate
information; and (7) Congress has directed FRA to establish sufficient
passenger car safety standards by 1999.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-96-114
     TITLE:  Railroad Safety: DOT Faces Challenges in Improving Grade 
             Crossing Safety, Track Inspection Standards, and
             Passenger Car Safety
      DATE:  04/01/96
   SUBJECT:  Railroad safety
             Railroad accidents
             Railroad regulation
             Safety standards
             Management information systems
             Accident prevention
             Federal/state relations
             Data collection operations
             Inspection
             Motor vehicles
IDENTIFIER:  Silver Spring (MD)
             Cajon Pass (CA)
             Weyauwega (WI)
             Fox River Grove (IL)
             DOT Rail-Highway Crossing Program
             Ohio
             DOT Grade Crossing Action Plan
             DOT Surface Transportation Program
             National Highway System