Operation Lifesaver awards grant to NY chapter; Canada OL develops crossing alert

Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) recently awarded the New York state chapter a $50,000 Innovative Rail Safety Competitive Grant.

Awarded in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration, the grant funds a targeted, multifaceted education and outreach campaign to schools, school bus drivers, community groups, law enforcement agencies and other first-responder groups to facilitate free rail-safety presentations, OLI officials said in a press release.

"This campaign will feature a mixture of sophisticated ad techniques, creative use of technology and personal outreach," said New York Operation Lifesaver State Coordinator Phil Merens.

This summer, the New York organization will use an online rail safety campaign targeted to educators, first responders and community groups. Those audiences will receive video greeting cards and an invitation to schedule a rail safety presentation, Merens said.

Since 2020, OLI and FRA have awarded $210,000 in funding for the innovative rail safety grant program. Grants are awarded based on demonstrated safety need, concept creativity and the ability to scale projects.

Meanwhile, Operation Lifesaver Canada announced a collaboration with Google Maps to create a safety feature to alert users to upcoming grade crossings. Canadian users will see a crossing icon alert and a reminder to approach with caution, OL Canada officials said.

The feature was developed using grade crossing location data from the Canadian Rail Atlas, the Railway Association of Canada’s (RAC) interactive map detailing the country’s nearly 27,000-mile rail network.

OL Canada has called on technology companies to incorporate alerts into their navigation applications since 2017. Earlier this year, OL Canada worked with the RAC to validate the locations of more than 21,500 public grade crossings. That data provided the basis for the Google Maps alerts.

OL Canada launched a similar partnership with navigation app Waze in 2020.