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101 International Drive
P.O. Box 16624
Missoula, Montana 59808
406.523.1500
406.523.1462 fax
1.800.338.4750

Road Crossing

The United States Department of Transportation, through the Federal Railroad Administration, has set a national goal of reducing rail highway at grade crossings by 25%. This program involves the reduction of the number of at-grade crossings (either public or private) through elimination, consolidation, grade separation, and restriction of the number of new crossings installed.

As a means of improving safety and facilitating this goal, Montana Rail Link encourages the general public, cities and towns to cooperate in order to implement consolidation projects. New crossing requests will be encouraged to use alternate access by way of parallel or other roads leading to existing crossings.

If an application is made and approved, the applicant must enter into an agreement with the Railroad. Basic terms of the agreement are as follows:

• Applicant will reimburse railroad for engineering review fees and will be obligated to pay an annual permit fee.
• All construction work for new crossings and future maintenance from end of tie to end of tie must be performed by MRL forces and at the applicant's expense.
• Grading, drainage and continued maintenance work on roadway approaches, is the sole responsibility of the applicant.
• Any installation and maintenance of current or future warning devices required for the crossing (active or passive) is at applicant's sole expense.
• Any relocation costs of a utility due to construction of a new crossing is the responsibility of the applicant.
• Applicant will bear the cost of insurance coverage with minimum limits of $5,000,000 per occurrence and $10,000,000 aggregate.
• Depending on work and proximity to tracks Railroad Protective Insurance may be required.

The Road Crossing Application must be printed out, completed and forwarded to Real Estate Administration along with a non-refundable $500 application fee made payable to Montana Rail Link, Inc. For questions, please contact us.

Please plan and allow for approximately six months to process your service request.

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