A preemption request form is a useful technical document summarizing the basic crossing information, preemption timing parameters, and requested railroad circuitry configuration and relays for both highway and railroad authorities to easily reference. This information is especially important when project timelines stretch for longer durations than anticipated and for future reference during maintenance activities. Note that some of the information provided in a preemption request form shall also be specified in the preemption calculations and various plan sheets. It is important to provide consistent project details across all technical documents to prevent confusion or any misleading information. In addition, in order to accurately fill out the preemption request form, the designer should clearly understand how each railroad relay functions as well as the preemption timing.

Projects involving interconnection between traffic signal systems and railroad signal systems should be coordinated with RRD for proper execution. Refer to the for specific information related to approval of railroad related projects.

Class 1 railroads often have their own version of a preemption request form. However, for consistent documentation on all projects, the designer shall complete the Interconnection Worksheet (located in Appendix A) following the diagnostic review to define the circuits agreed upon by the diagnostic team as well as other interconnection details. The circuit information can later be transposed onto railroad specific preemption request forms. This worksheet shall be provided to TxDOT Rail Division for inclusion in the railroad agreement.