This tool is located in the Evaluate section of the Rail tab.

Function

The Rank Crossings interface () is used to update the list of railroad rankings.

Ranking

The Rank Crossings interface hosts the Railroad Crossings Ranking List. This list contains each railroad crossing with a numeric rank from one to the total number of crossings (ex. 1 to 2592, the current listing), with the number one crossing having the highest collision prediction value. This list also indicates which railroad crossings may need safety or operational improvements. For each crossing, the rank is determined based on the "collision prediction formula" provided by the FHWA which considers data on actual crashes provided by Rail personnel on the "F, I, & P" interface. 

Controls

There are some controls offered in this interface:

View Ranking

To view the ranking for a specific year and time period, the user can select options in the Rank Year and Total Number of Crash Years dropdowns at the top of the interface. These selections will alter the table information automatically.

Calculate Ranking

The user can also update the rankings on this interface. After opening the interface, the user can select the Rank Year and the Total Number of Crash Years to use for the ranking. Then, the user can click the "Calculate Rankings" button to update the table ranking. By selecting the Calculate Rankings button, the table will populate the Rank using the data saved on the General Information (Railroad Crossings) and the "F, I, & P" interfaces in the system. Once complete, the user can select the "Save Changes" button to save a copy of these rankings to the database. This will allow Rail personnel to recall historical ranking data through the Rank Crossings interface or through the Reporting options. If Rankings for the selected year have already been saved to the database, the user will receive a warning to confirm that they wish to overwrite the existing ranking values saved. When "Confirm" is selected in the Warning Box, the new list of rankings will be saved to the database.

Disable Ranking

Users with the appropriate permissions can determine when no further rankings can be performed and saved for the year by selecting the "Disable Rankings" button. Once this option has been selected, a pop-up will appear to confirm the action. However, other years may still have ranking enabled; in this case, the user still has the option to modify General Information data and re-calculate ranking values for that year. The difference in these actions is that users no longer have the option to save these updated values to the database. To re-enable the ability to perform and save rankings, the user can simply select the Enable Rankings button; this is the new name of the "Disable Ranking" button.

Formula

The system will calculate a collision prediction value for each railroad crossing by using the collision prediction formula. This formula can be found in the Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Handbook.