Fostering New Technology to Improve Rail Safety

An oped in today's LA Daily News discusses the need to improve safety at the thousands of rail-highway grade crossings across the country. In the recently passed Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Congressman Brown worked to get legislative language that would make developing and deploying new technology warning systems at these grade crossings a priority. Specifically, Brown's language will get DOT focused on working with the private sector to develop new grade crossing safety technologies, such as systems that can warn a train miles away that a car is stuck on the tracks, allowing it time to stop before the crossing. Brown also worked to add additional language that will give states and technology companies the legal protection necessary to install these systems at crossings, instead of simply keeping them in the lab.

Read LA Daily News OPED: Grade-crossing deaths are true rail problem [http://www.dailynews.com/editorial/ci_10622846]

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