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The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is launching an outreach program for Spanish-speaking seasonal and migrant workers in California to raise awareness about potential safety hazards at grade crossings and tracks on or near farms.

About 42 percent of the state’s 4,400 private crossings are located on farms, where thousands of Hispanic workers often cross tracks while operating agricultural equipment. Many of the crossings are unmarked and have no warning devices.

A FRA Community Outreach Coalition recently developed an informational DVD available in English and Spanish to educate farm workers about crossing signs, safely moving farm equipment through a crossing and dangers associated with walking on tracks. The coalition includes Amtrak, BNSF Railway Co., Caltrans, San Joaquin Valley Railroad and various growers, farmers and agricultural communities.

The DVD will be available on the FRA’s Web site and distributed in California. More than 4,000 DVDs will be offered as a training tool to agricultural employers and farm worker groups in the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys, an area that has California’s highest concentration of farm workers and logged one-quarter of the state’s rail-related fatalities in 2006.