ICC to award grants for rail safety education

Written by jrood

The Illinois Commerce Commission's Railroad Safety Section has issued a Request for Grant Proposals for local railroad safety education and enforcement programs. The ICC recently received a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to continue working with local communities and railroads in Illinois to implement railroad safety education or enforcement programs.  

Each year in
Illinois, 50 to 60 people are killed and another 70 to 100 injured in
highway-rail grade crossing collisions, or while trespassing on railroad
property. Communities interested in partnering with the ICC on a rail safety
education or enforcement program, may submit a proposal describing railroad
safety concerns in the area, proposed education and/or enforcement activities,
and the amount of the grant request.

 

In 2001,
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) helped launch the project now known as PEERS (Public
Education and Enforcement Research Study) after convening roundtable meetings
of state and local officials to discuss ways to improve safety at railroad
crossings in Illinois:

 

"This
successful partnership between the Federal Railroad Administration and the
Illinois Commerce Commission came out of a terrible tragedy – a fatal train
crash in Bourbonnais in 1999 that forced us all to sit down and reexamine the
safety of Illinois rail crossings," said Durbin. "Since then, the PEERS program
has dramatically reduced rail crossing violations, by as much as 71 percent in
Northeastern Illinois.  With this
funding we are able to continue to promote rail safety and prevent future
tragedies. I strongly encourage all communities affected by rail traffic to
apply for these grants."

 

Commission
Chairman Charles Box reinforced this message. "The ICC is committed to
improving safety and reducing train/vehicle collisions at all highway-rail
grade crossings in Illinois, and improving public awareness of the dangers of
trespassing on railroad rights-of-way. Federal funding provided through the
PEERS program has allowed the Commission to work with local communities to
improve public education and enforcement efforts," Box added. 

 

The deadline
to submit proposals is noon on September 15, 2009. Proposals selected for
funding will be announced on or after October 1, 2009. The grants will be
awarded for projects to be implemented between January 1, 2010 and December 31,
2010.

 

Proposals
should be submitted to Jeremy Kirk in the Administrative Services Division of
the Illinois Commerce Commission, 527 E. Capitol Avenue, Springfield, Illinois,
62701.

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