Catalog of "common use" rail corridors

Original publisher: Washington, DC : U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Research and Development, [2003] OCLC Number: (OCoLC)56801302 Subject: Railroads -- United States. Excerpt: ... highway-rail grade crossing shared by a transit system and a conventional railroads ) at present there are no specific safety standards or regulations applicable to operations of this kind. In cases where FRA concludes that an operation is not a " railroad " for purposes of 49 U.S.C. § 20102 ( 1 ), local rail service providers, often agencies of state or local governments, may receive capital or operating funds from the Federal Transit Administration ( FTA ). However, FTA has no statutory authority for safety regulation. Instead, in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act ( ISTEA ) of 1992, the Congress directed states to designate agencies with safety regulatory responsibility for " fixed guideway " transportation ( including heavy rail, light rail, funiculars, monorails, etc. ). State inspectors working with transit properties, however, are not required to be familiar with FRA track safety standards ( which may not, in fact, be appropriate for transit systems in all cases ). In the case of a transit system located on dedicated tracks adjacent to active freight trackage, FRA's concern is that the operations of a freight railroad in close proximity to a heavy or light rail transit line could present risks for each. For example, a freight train might derail and the derailed cars might encroach on the transit line. Further, a transit vehicle might have to be evacuated, and passengers could find themselves at risk of being hit by a freight train. In addition, roadway workers on the freight railroad might not realize the need to protect against transit vehicles, and vice versa. FRA is also concerned that there is no single source for information about these transit operations that share rights-of-way or " common corridors " with frei...