The Department of Transportation (DOT) prioritizes which rail crossings
are eligible for upgraded safety deviceds (lights, gates, etc.) based on
a number of criteria. One of those is how many children cross the tracks
daily via school bus. Information from TIMS is a critical part of this
decision-making process.
During the 2006 Spring Tymposium, we held a workshop on Railroad and
Hazards in TIMS. Ric Cruz and Jon Skinner from the DOT Rail Division
attended this workshop as our guest speakers. Ric discussed the importance of the data that we send to his department, and the impact it
has on funding for highway-rail grade crossing safety upgrades.
There was a PowerPoint presentation on how Railroad and Hazard data are
to be entered into TIMS and then maps with DOT crossing numbers were
handed out to all participants of the workshop.
There will be a Railroad and Hazards Workshop in the TIMS labs (at ITRE
on October 11th and December 5th and 7th at UNC Charlotte) where TIMS
Data Managers will log into their site data so they can get their
Railroad and Hazard data entered into their systems. After these
workshops the TIMS staff will then be able to forward the necessary
reports to Jon Skinner and Ric Cruz at the Rail Division.
This information was submitted by Bonnie Cash at ITRE who is
coordinating this effort with DOT.
NCDOT RAIL DIVISION: http://www.bytrain.org/
CROSSING SIGNALS: http://www.bytrain.org/safety/xsignals.html
North Carolina Operation Lifesaver: www.ncol.org
Operation Lifesaver International: www.oli.org
