49 U.S.C. § 20153 — Audible warnings at highway-rail grade crossings

(a) Definitions. As used in this section: (1) "highway-rail grade crossing" includes any street or highway that crosses a railroad line at the same level, not a bridge or tunnel. (2) "locomotive horn" means a train-mounted audible warning device that meets standards the Secretary of Transportation sets. (3) "supplementary safety measure" means a safety system or procedure — put in place by the traffic control or law enforcement authority responsible for that crossing — that the Secretary determines effectively substitutes for the locomotive horn in preventing highway-rail accidents. A traffic arrangement that stops careless movement over the crossing, for example median barriers that block drivers from going around crossing gates that fully span each lane, counts as a supplementary safety measure if it meets the Secretary's standards. Standard devices like reflective crossbucks, stop signs, flashing lights, gates that do not fully block the road, or traffic signals do not count as supplementary safety measures, alone or together.

(b) Requirement. The Secretary must write regulations requiring a locomotive horn to sound as a train approaches and enters any public highway-rail grade crossing.

(c) Exception. (1) In writing those regulations, the Secretary may exempt certain kinds of rail operations or certain crossings, based on train speed or other factors, from the horn requirement if the Secretary decides the crossing does not pose a significant risk of death or serious injury; sounding the horn is not practical there; or supplementary safety measures, in the Secretary's judgment, fully make up for not having the horn. (2) To protect both safety and community quiet, the Secretary can require that supplementary safety measures be used at every crossing within a certain distance along the railroad before any of them can be exempted from the horn rule.

(d) Application for Waiver or Exemption. The Secretary can only consider a waiver or exemption request if the railroad that owns or controls that crossing and the relevant traffic or law enforcement authority apply together. The Secretary can only grant it if the application shows that highway users' safety will not suffer.

(e) Development of Supplementary Safety Measures. (1) To help communities stay quiet and to develop new safety ideas, the Secretary may temporarily order railroads to stop sounding horns at crossings where a new supplementary safety measure is being tested — but only after the measure has been tested, evaluated, and found necessary by the Secretary before it is actually used instead of the horn. (2) The Secretary's regulations can include special procedures for approving new supplementary safety measures that meet the standards in (c)(1), once they have been successfully demonstrated.

(f) Specific Rules. By regulation, the Secretary may apply all or part of these rules to private highway-rail grade crossings; pedestrian crossings; and crossings mainly used by non-motorized or other special vehicles. None of these regulations apply anywhere people are not allowed to cross the railroad at all.

(g) Issuance. The Secretary had to issue regulations for the crossing categories that pose the greatest safety risk within 24 months after November 2, 1994. Regulations for all other crossing categories had to come within 48 months after that date.

(h) Impact of Regulations. Any regulations under this section must include a clear statement of how they affect section 20106, the law requiring nationally uniform railroad safety regulation.

(i) Regulations. In writing these regulations, the Secretary: (1) must consider the interests of communities that already restrict horn-sounding at crossings, or that have not been subject to routine horn-sounding; (2) must work with affected communities, offer technical help, and give them a reasonable amount of time to install supplementary safety measures, factoring in local safety efforts like public-awareness campaigns and traffic-law enforcement, on whatever terms the Secretary thinks are needed to protect public safety; and (3) may waive any requirement of this section, except this subsection or subsection (j), that the Secretary decides would not meaningfully help public safety.

(j) Effective Date of Regulations. Any regulations issued under this section cannot take effect until at least 365 days after the final rule is published.