TxDOT Role with Railroads

The TxDOT Rail Division (RRD) interfaces with railroad companies as a primary function. The Rail Division is comprised of an administration and four main sections: Planning and Programming, Safety, Rail Letting and Rail Grade Crossing. This manual will mostly deal with the Rail Letting and Rail Grade Crossing Sections.
The Rail
Planning and Programming Section
 has the authority to implement rail improvements through public-private partnership agreements and provide investments in freight rail relocation projects, rail facility improvements, rail line consolidations or new passenger rail developments.
This section
 also manages lease agreements with operators on state-owned facilities and
manages
 construction contracts for state or federally funded rehabilitation projects on both state-owned and private facilities.
The Railroad Safety Section promotes safety in all areas of railroad operations to reduce deaths, injuries and damage to property resulting from railroad crashes by conducting railroad investigations and inspection in all five Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) disciplines.
The Rail Grade Crossing Section manages the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Section 130 Program (formerly titled FSP Program), the state Replanking Program of on-system at-grade crossings and maintains a database of all public railroad crossings. The Rail Letting section generates railroad related agreements for TxDOT construction and maintenance work that impacts railroad rights of way and assists with other issues related to public railroad crossings.
District personnel coordinate design, construction and maintenance of road projects impacting railroads within their district. They are also responsible for reviewing invoices related to railroad construction work and coordinating district activities with their railroad company counterparts.
The Texas Railroad Information Management System (TRIMS) went live in March 2013 as the database to manage railroad crossing data and rail-highway project information. See Chapter 12 for more information.
See the TxDOT Rail Division website for further information. The Rail Division external website contains general information that is of use to both internal and external users. The Rail Division Crossroads internal website contains more proprietary information such as sample plan sets, internal and external contact information and guidance memos.