Schumer Tours Site Of Rail-Grade Crossings Gates & Signals As Federal Inspectors Assess Their Safet, Senator Also Announces New Push For Rail Crossing Legislation To Supplement Final Phases Of Current Investigation

Press Release

At the Chili Avenue Crossing next to Town Hall, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today visited the Rochester area to ensure rail-grade crossing gate and signal inspections are moving forward as planned. During his visit, Schumer also launched a new push to pass legislation that will improve grade-crossing safety throughout the Rochester region and across the Country. This comes on the heels of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) agreeing to conduct a full investigation of all the rail-grade crossing gates and signals in the Rochester area following Schumer's push. Schumer explained that he initially called for the immediate federal investigation following a fatal accident at the King Road rail-grade crossing and intersection that claimed the life of one Chili, NY man. The accident then prompted multiple reports from Rochester area residents that said the crossing gates often drop down when a train is not approaching, conditioning motorists to disregard the gates due to a belief that they are simply malfunctioning and thus the motorists will be able to drive through.

While in Rochester, Schumer met with FRA inspectors as well as discussed his legislation, which would provide new resources to the FRA, states and communities to make critical engineering and safety upgrades at rail crossings, like installing new lights and signals, particularly at accident-prone crossings to ensure accidents like this do not happen in the future.

"While the pain is still fresh and the investigation is still underway, it's crystal clear that we must both closely examine all our rail-grade crossings and make sure they are functioning properly and make system improvements. That is why I am introducing new legislation that will focus on providing new resources to the FRA, states and localities to help make much-needed improvements at many rail grade-crossings and help eliminate future collisions. Improved safety must rise from this dark tragedy," said Schumer.

Earlier this month, Schumer announced that, following his push, the FRA agreed to conduct a full investigation of all the rail-grade crossing gates and signals in the Rochester area. Schumer urged the FRA to do this following a fatal accident at the King Road rail grade crossing and intersection that claimed the life of one Chili, NY man. Schumer argued this investigation was needed to ensure that these crossing gates and signals are functioning properly, and as designed, particularly following this crash where the driver drove around the gate when he was struck by an Amtrak train. The accident prompted multiple reports from local Rochester area residents that said the crossing gates often drop down when a train is not approaching, conditioning motorists to disregard the gates due to a belief that they are simply malfunctioning and thus the motorists will be able to drive through. Schumer said the failure of a crossing to function properly could be leading to motorists put their lives in danger when a train is approaching the intersection because they simply assume the grade crossing's gates grates and signals should be disregarded.

Schumer said the more than 200 incidents of grade crossing malfunctions from 9-1-1 call centers that were reported around the Rochester area since January 2014 proved a full investigation was needed. An average of five malfunctions per week have been reported so far this year, a rate that is higher than in the same period in 2014. The greatest number of calls about crossing problems came from the town of Chili. That is because the CSX Mainline splits into two lines in Chili, increasing the number of crossings in the town. Chili has seven grade crossings on CSX lines and other less-used crossings on the Rochester and Southern Railroad line.

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