Full Text of HR0928 093rd General Assembly
HR0928 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in its | 3 |
| Interim Final Rule for the Use of Horns at Highway-Rail | 4 |
| Crossings, using the conclusions of a statistical study by the | 5 |
| research corporation Westat, Inc., implies that the collision | 6 |
| risk at gated crossings in Northeastern Illinois where the | 7 |
| train horn is not routinely sounded is 17.3% higher than gated | 8 |
| crossings in the continental United States where the horn is | 9 |
| sounded, and due to this factor, municipalities that want to | 10 |
| maintain existing quiet crossings will have to invest in | 11 |
| expensive supplemental safety measures to lower the risk to | 12 |
| make up for the implied 17.3% differential that results from | 13 |
| routine horn blowing, meaning that the total cost will likely | 14 |
| exceed $10 million to maintain the existing quiet; and
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| WHEREAS, The FRA admits, however, that the Westat results | 16 |
| are not statistically significant at a conventional level (the | 17 |
| result of having only a 69% confidence level, or a nearly one | 18 |
| in three chance of not being relevant), bearing out the | 19 |
| "puzzling Chicago anomaly" described in an FRA study in 2000; | 20 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, A team of statistical experts from TransInfo LLC | 22 |
| and the University of Illinois at Chicago, contracted to | 23 |
| conduct an analysis of the Westat study, analyzed the Westat | 24 |
| risk assessment data and procedures and confirmed that, | 25 |
| according to the standard principles used in statistical | 26 |
| inference, the FRA/Westat conclusions were not statistically | 27 |
| significant, and TransInfo/UIC offered a variation of the | 28 |
| Westat model that produced statistically significant results, | 29 |
| determining that a more likely estimate of the risk of a | 30 |
| collision at an existing quiet crossing in Northeastern | 31 |
| Illinois is 26.4% lower, when compared to crossings in the | 32 |
| continental United States where the horn is blown; and |
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| WHEREAS, The TransInfo/UIC study concluded that "based on | 2 |
| the FRA data, there is no reason to believe that in the Chicago | 3 |
| Area banning the sounding of horns increases the chance of | 4 |
| collisions at gated public highway-rail grade crossings in | 5 |
| northeastern Illinois"; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, The FRA's Interim Final Rule will force | 7 |
| municipalities to spend millions of dollars on measures at | 8 |
| quiet crossings that are sufficiently safe by the FRA's own | 9 |
| standard, and this would be a wasteful and ineffective result | 10 |
| from a flawed analysis that lacks any statistical validity and | 11 |
| would not serve to improve overall railroad crossing safety in | 12 |
| Northeastern Illinois; and | 13 |
| WHEREAS, The Illinois Commerce Commission worked with the | 14 |
| communities and the railroads of Northeastern Illinois in | 15 |
| determining where it was appropriate to excuse the routine | 16 |
| blowing of the horns, every quiet crossing has been equipped | 17 |
| with a minimum level of active safety equipment, every quiet | 18 |
| crossing has to maintain an acceptable safety record or ICC | 19 |
| will rescind the excusal until appropriate safety measures are | 20 |
| put into place, and the ICC, railroads, and communities have | 21 |
| invested a significant amount of resources in addressing the | 22 |
| highest risk crossings with the appropriate safety measures | 23 |
| necessary to reduce the risk of future collisions; and | 24 |
| WHEREAS, A focus on education programs such as Operation | 25 |
| Lifesaver has supplemented those efforts of the ICC, the | 26 |
| communities, and the railroads, and this combination of factors | 27 |
| is perhaps the most likely reason behind the FRA's | 28 |
| self-described "puzzling Chicago anomaly" and provides a model | 29 |
| on which to build a common sense alternative to the FRA's | 30 |
| Interim Final Rule; and | 31 |
| WHEREAS, The statutory mandate behind the Interim Final | 32 |
| Rule provides that the U.S. Secretary of Transportation may |
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| except from the horn-sounding requirement "any categories of | 2 |
| rail operations or categories of highway-rail grade | 3 |
| crossings....that the Secretary determines not to present a | 4 |
| significant risk with respect to loss of life or serious | 5 |
| personal injury"; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, Northeastern Illinois as a whole appears to | 7 |
| present a category of highway-rail grade crossings that must be | 8 |
| considered by the regulations as allowed for under the | 9 |
| Secretary of Transportation's exception: a region with a | 10 |
| significant concentration of existing quiet crossings overseen | 11 |
| by a State program where the statistical risk of collisions at | 12 |
| crossings where the locomotive horn is not routinely sounded is | 13 |
| no greater than if the locomotive horn is routinely sounded, | 14 |
| and this categorical exception could apply to other regions | 15 |
| that are similarly situated; and | 16 |
| WHEREAS, An alternative crossing safety program for | 17 |
| Northeastern Illinois
would include the following elements: | 18 |
| delegation to an appropriate State of the authority to | 19 |
| implement and manage the regional program allowed under the | 20 |
| Secretary of Transportation's exception; retention by the FRA | 21 |
| of oversight of this program, with the FRA responsible for | 22 |
| monitoring the program's effectiveness; retention by the FRA of | 23 |
| authority to recommend adjustments if the program is determined | 24 |
| to have a detrimental impact on crossing safety; State agency | 25 |
| supervision of the creation of any quiet zone; delegation to | 26 |
| the appropriate State agency of authority to establish | 27 |
| acceptable safety thresholds, designate quiet zone status, and | 28 |
| enforce quiet zones, including the authority to enforce | 29 |
| railroad compliance with the quiet zone; input from the | 30 |
| railroads, affected agencies, public authorities, and | 31 |
| municipal officials in determining the establishment of a quiet | 32 |
| zone; adequate warning signs at all quet zone crossings; a | 33 |
| requirement that all crossings within a quiet zone demonstrate | 34 |
| a proven safety record, as defined by an acceptable relevant |
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| collision experience, such as the current ICC standard of no | 2 |
| more than three relevant collisions over a five year period; | 3 |
| limitations on the creation of individual quiet crossings; and | 4 |
| a public service campaign to educate motorists and pedestrians | 5 |
| as to the consequences of unsafe behavior at railroad crossings | 6 |
| and to warn them that trains will not routinely sound horns as | 7 |
| they approach crossings; and
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| WHEREAS, The FRA apparently has already established | 9 |
| precedence for allowing the regional exception approach, | 10 |
| having provided a separate treatment to the Florida communities | 11 |
| impacted by Emergency Order 15, allowing them to establish | 12 |
| quiet zones prior to the publication of the Interim Final Rule; | 13 |
| therefore be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 15 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 16 |
| urge the FRA to apply the Secretary of Transportation's | 17 |
| exception to the FRA Interim Final Rule to any region that | 18 |
| includes a significant concentration of existing quiet | 19 |
| crossings overseen by a State program under which the | 20 |
| statistical risk of collisions at crossings where the | 21 |
| locomotive horn is not routinely sounded is no greater than if | 22 |
| the locomotive horn is routinely sounded; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That we urge application of the Secretary of | 24 |
| Transportation's exception to the FRA Interim Final Rule to | 25 |
| existing quiet crossings in Northeastern Illinois; and be it | 26 |
| further | 27 |
| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 28 |
| delivered to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to the | 29 |
| Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, and to | 30 |
| each member of the Illinois congressional delegation.
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