Crossing grants Guide 08
A grant writer's checklist for crossing evidence
Build a crossing grant case from dated traffic counts, incident records and independently documented access problems. Keep each fact tied to its crossing ID and source, and explain what it can support.
For grant writers and planning teams preparing a crossing proposal.
Put road and train activity in context.
Record vehicles a day, the road count year, daytime trains, nighttime trains and switching movements. Check whether every value uses the period needed by the application.
Multiplying daily road and train counts is a simple measure of how much activity meets at a crossing. It is not a probability of an incident, a count of close calls or a substitute for the funding program's method.
Sources: FRA: crossing inventory reporting.
Use a defined incident window.
State the start and end dates of the extract and confirm that reports match the crossing ID. Separate incident reports from the number of people injured or killed.
Check the original report when a case turns on a specific field. Today's warning equipment may differ from the equipment reported at the time of the incident.
Keep public blockage reports separate.
Public reports can identify questions for a local study. They cannot establish all events, the average wait for all road users or the number of unique delays.
FRA says its public blocked-report collection is unsuitable for budgetary requests or regulatory proposals. Use the notice's required evidence and an independently documented observation method.
Document emergency access with the relevant agency.
Ask emergency services for records of confirmed response delays, affected routes and the period covered. Note whether the information describes a specific event, a recurring route problem or a modeled scenario.
A nearby fire station is not evidence that a train delayed a response. Keep the route map, timing records and any assumptions together.
Sources: FRA: FY 2025–2026 RCE notice of funding opportunity.
Resolve record-quality questions first.
Check the ID, road, coordinates, reporting railroad and equipment against other dated sources. Review changes for corrections as well as possible changes on the ground.
If a road count is old or a train count is not reported, name the gap and request a suitable count. Preserve the original value and document the reason for any replacement used in the proposal.
Sources: FRA: crossing inventory reporting.
Make every important statement traceable.
Record the agency, document or record title, crossing ID, reporting period, record version, retrieval date and source link. Keep the original source separate from your interpretation.
Use a selected packet for the proposal's crossings and verify it against the application's checklist. A packet organizes evidence; it does not establish that every claim or application condition is satisfied.
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