http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/6154874.htm
Budget for railroad crossing safety may be under the knife<
By Ken Leiser
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(KRT) - The White House’s proposed federal transportation spending plan could spell the end of the line for a program aimed at preventing accidents at the nation’s railroad crossings.
Under the plan, the administration would no longer require states to spend $155 million a year of their federal transportation aid on rail highway crossings. Missouri’s share of the federal money is about $4 million annually, while Illinois receives about $8 million.
Instead, the crossing money_distributed until now under the federal government’s Section 130 program_would go to the states in a form that would give them greater latitude in how it is used to improve transportation safety.
Not long after Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta unveiled the transportation spending proposal last month, a railroad trade association voiced concern about elimination of the Section 130 program.
While not a significant line item in any state highway budget, industry officials say the rail highway crossing program has helped in significantly reducing the carnage at the nation’s crossings over the past three decades.
Between 1975 and 2002, the number of collisions at highway rail grade crossings plunged from 12,126 to 3,066. The number of crossing deaths was cut by more than half over that span, too, from 917 to 355.
Rail safety experts also credit the Operation Lifesaver education program, tougher law enforcement efforts and various engineering improvements for the safety gains.
“We think that (program) is a very large part of the reason that grade crossing accidents and fatalities have both been cut sharply over the last 20 years,” said Tom White, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.
Edward Hamberger, the associati