advertisement

---

Today, the New York attorney general's office announced the state reached a voluntary agreement with CSX Transportation aimed at improving the safety of hundreds of grade crossings throughout New York.

CSXT agreed to implement a series of safety monitoring and reporting improvements, and fund a $500,000 pilot program under which local law enforcement agencies would be reimbursed for costs to fix crossings with malfunctioning safety equipment.

The Class I will:
• repair crossing warning system malfunctions within 24 hours, or as soon as possible;
• notify law enforcement agencies when receiving a "credible" report of a crossing system malfunction, or when warning systems cannot be repaired within 24 hours or crossing safety systems are deactivated by CSXT;
• improve crossing equipment testing and inspection, and record-keeping procedures; and
• update and improve maintenance instructions given to employees.

In addition, CSXT agreed to provide the attorney general's office period reports on crossing safety matters and pay the state $1 million to resolve an investigation that lead to the agreement.

Last year, the attorney general's office investigated an accident that killed two people at a CSXT crossing near Rochester. The investigation found CSXT failed to make timely repairs to malfunctioning safety equipment, notify local law enforcement authorities in a timely manner about the malfunctions and maintain accurate records tracking the status the crossing's warning systems, according to a prepared statement.

During the past year, the railroad has completed signal and/or track maintenance at 143 crossings in the state, and deployed an electronic system to record warning device inspections and tests, CSXT officials said.

"Highway-rail grade crossing incidents on [our] network have declined by more than 27 percent in the last decade, and CSXT will continue to devote significant resources to further improve grade crossing safety," officials said.