Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer a simple, commonsense amendment to the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015.

My amendment would require each State to develop a grade crossing action plan, identifying specific solutions for improving safety at rail-highway crossings; furthermore, my amendment would direct States to focus resources on crossings that have experienced recent grade crossing accidents, multiple accidents, or crossings that are at high risk for accidents.

Mr. Chairman, a week ago Tuesday, our Nation witnessed yet another tragic rail accident in my district when Metrolink Ventura County line 102 crashed into a truck along the train tracks in Oxnard.

While there are many unanswered questions about this accident, one issue is abundantly clear. As a nation, we must do more to address rail-highway crossing safety and address the increasing backlog of safety projects nationwide. Currently, California ranks second in the Nation in the number of crossing accidents.

Nationally, the Federal Railroad Administration estimates that there were over 2,000 accidents at railroad crossings in 2013, with 251 fatalities and 929 injuries.

As many residents of Ventura County know, this is not the first time an accident has occurred at the Rice Avenue intersection. This is a heavily-used corridor for both rail goods movement, passenger rail--both Amtrak and Metrolink--as well as automobiles and truck traffic.

Unfortunately, like many local communities across the Nation, Ventura County cannot, on its own, fund rail-highway crossing safety improvements.

As a member of this committee, I am pleased that this bill provides funds for passenger rail infrastructure, and I strongly support the provision that permits funds to be used for crossing safety improvements because we all know these investments benefit not only safety, but also our regional and national economies.

In 2014, we invested $220 million in the Railway-Highway Crossings Program at the Federal level; yet, under title 49, only 10 States are required by Federal law to have action plans prioritizing rail-highway safety improvements.

It is critically important for Congress to ensure that Federal dollars for passenger rail infrastructure improvements are used wisely. We must also ensure that Federal funds are prioritized to address safety improvements at the most dangerous crossings first.

My amendment would get at the heart of this issue by requiring every State to have a specific plan in place that will ensure both the wise use of tax dollars and address rail-highway grade crossing safety in a systematic way.

I ask my colleagues to vote for my commonsense amendment.

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. I thank the chairman for your extraordinary work on this bill--and a bipartisan bill as well--and I thank you for accepting the amendment.

Rail-highway crossing safety problems are not unique to my district. Sadly, my colleagues have also experienced recent tragedies. On Monday, a Long Island Rail Road train struck a car stopped on the tracks in East Rockaway. In February, a Metro-North train struck a sport utility vehicle, tragically killing the driver and five train passengers in Valhalla.

I strongly believe that Congress, along with State and local governments, must address this safety issue as a matter of urgency, and I urge my colleagues to support my amendment.

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