Railroad Crossing Funding Programs
The Commission's Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch administers three funding programs for railroad crossings: Section 130, Section 190, and Maintenance Fund.
Section 130
The Section 130 Grade Crossing Hazard Elimination Program provides federal funds to local agencies (cities and counties) and railroads to eliminate hazards at existing at-grade public highway-rail crossings.
Refer to the Section 130 funding guidelines for details.
For more information, contact Matthew Cervantes at matthew.cervantes@cpuc.ca.gov 213-266-4716 or Bree Arnett at bree.arnett@cpuc.ca.gov 916-928-2516.
Section 190 Grade Separation Program
The Section 190 Grade Separation Program provides state funds to local agencies to grade separate at-grade crossings (crossings), or alter, or reconstruct existing grade separations.
Refer to the Section 190 funding overview for details.
For more information, contact Zaida Amaya at zaida.amaya@cpuc.ca.gov or 415-793-8406.
General information
In accordance with Section 2452 of the California Streets and Highways Code, the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) establishes the highway-rail Grade Separation Priority List (Priority List) for grade separation projects by July 1st of each year. The California Transportation Commission and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) use the Priority List to allocate available funds for the fiscal year (FY) to assist local agencies to finance grade separating at-grade crossings of city streets, county roads, or state highways or altering or reconstructing separations. The Priority List prioritizes funding for qualified grade separation projects.
The Commission issues a new Order Instituting Investigation (OII) every two (2) years, determining the Priority List for the next two (2) FYs. The Commission adopts the Priority List for the first FY by issuing an interim decision before that FY. Subsequently after removing the projects which were funded already in the previous FY, the Commission adopts the revised Priority List for the second FY by a final decision before the second FY.
On June 23, 2022, the Commission issued Decision 22-06-030 to establish the new Priority List for FY 2022-2023. On June 29, 2023, the Commission issued Decision 23-06-030 to establish the new Priority List for FY 2023-2024.
Call for grade separation projects for Fiscal Years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026
On June 29, 2023, the Commission issued Order Instituting Investigation 23-06-020 to establish the new Priority List for Fiscal Years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. Application forms are due October 20, 2023, to be considered for the Priority List.
Maintenance Fund
The Railroad Crossing Automatic Warning Device Maintenance Fund provides funds to railroads to pay for the local government's share of the costs of maintaining automatic warning devices at railroad crossings.
Refer to the Maintenance Fund overview for details.
For more information, contact Mariam Yani at mariam.yani@cpuc.ca.gov or (213) 576-7103.