A phased approach to prioritize road authority resources to comply with new Canadian grade crossing regulations

On December 17th, 2014, the Canada Gazette published the new Grade Crossings Regulations (Statutory Order and Regulations 2014-275) pursuant to the Railway Safety Act. The intended purpose of the new Regulations is to address gaps within the existing voluntary standards and regulations to improve safety performance of grade crossings of all federally regulated railroads and reduce fatalities, injuries, property damage and environmental damage at crossings. While the new Regulations establish enforceable safety standards, they also outline the roles and responsibilities of both the railroads and road authorities in terms of information sharing on operational characteristics, infrastructure at new and existing crossings, and sightlines. Railroads and road authorities will need to work collaboratively to ensure all existing public crossings (approximately 14,000 across Canada) meet or exceed the standards set out in the Regulations within the next seven years to improve safety at grade crossings for all transportation users and avoid potential financial penalties. This paper provides an overview of the GCR, including how the GCR will be enforced and the roles and responsibilities of road authorities and railway companies, and provides an approach for road authorities to prioritize and allocate resources to comply with the new regulations. Specifically this paper describes an approach to comply with the information sharing requirements and to identify significant grade crossing investments that may necessitate several years to implement.

• Record URL:
  http://conf.tac-atc.ca/english/annualconference/tac2015/s5/reimer.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)

  401-1111 Prince of Wales Drive
  Ottawa, Ontario  Canada 
• Authors:
  • Reimer, M
  • Rempel, G
  • Regehr, J
• Conference:
  • TAC 2015: Getting You There Safely - 2015 Conference and Exhibition of the Transportation Association of Canada // ATC: Destination sécurité routière - 2015 Congrès et Exposition de l'Association des transports du Canada
• Publication Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Pagination: 1 PDF file, 839 KB, 15p.
• Monograph Title: TAC 2015: Getting You There Safely - 2015 Conference and Exhibition of the Transportation Association of Canada // ATC: Destination sécurité routière - 2015 Congrès et Exposition de l'Association des transports du Canada

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Federal government; Highways; Layout; Local government agencies; Planning; Railroad grade crossings; Standards
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• ITRD Terms: 8018: Canada; COMPLIANCE (SPECIF); 8525: Conference; 183: Government (national); 2755: Highway; 2885: Layout; 452: Level crossing; 192: Local authority; 143: Planning; PRIORITY (GEN); 187: Specification (standard)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01591645
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)
• Files: ITRD, TAC
• Created Date: Feb 26 2016 10:49AM