DecisionTek, under contract to the Federal Railroad Administration, is the author and developer of the GradeDec system for highway-rail grade crossing investment analysis.  DecisionTek provides continuing support to FRA and its constituents in the training and use of GradeDec.  DecisionTek's products, GradeDec 2000 and GradeDec.NET, are the only FRA-approved and supported versions of GradeDec.

Try GradeDec.NET, the most current, online version of GradeDec at http://gradedec.fra.dot.gov

 Background

About 3500 times each year a train and a highway vehicle collide at a highway-rail grade crossing, resulting in about 400 fatalities with additional injuries and property damage.  Moreover, as rail freight movements and highway vehicle-miles continue to grow, highway-rail grade crossings are increasingly significant contributors to highway congestion.  Lastly, a federal initiative to study high speed rail passenger train service has identified grade crossing solutions as a key component in any strategy for the development of high speed rail travel.

As part of its mission to promote safety and improve mobility, the federal government provides funding to states for the improvement of safety at crossings, and separate funding for general highway improvements.  It is the task of the states and local authorities to allocate these and other resources in a manner that meets public policy criteria for economic efficiency.

GradeDec.NET

In response to the need for a tool that supports resource allocation and other grade crossing management decisions, FRA sponsored GradeDec.NET.  Now in its fifth year of development and deployment by DecisionTek, GradeDec.NET evaluates safety impacts and the benefit-cost of grade crossing improvement programs.  It includes rich features for data management, reporting and enables several types of analyses: safety, investment and regulatory compliance.  The tool incorporates FRA's National Grade Crossing Inventory database; current practice and recent developments in accident prediction; highway traffic models; and, economic models.  The tool is fully enabled for risk analysis and conducts Monte Carlo simulations of forecast costs and benefits.  GradeDec.NET has been used by: FRA and the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (for the Conditions and Performance Report to Congress and other analyses); state departments of transportation and their consultants for projects in 15 states; Metropolitan Planning Organizations and municipalities; and, Class I and other railroads. GradeDec.NET was recently featured in published research on the benefit-cost of new grade crossing technology.

GradeDec.NET is a web-based application and runs in a browser from any minimally configured computer with an Internet connection, and without the need to install any special software.  This web version of GradeDec has been available to the public since January 2003 and 630 registered users have applied GradeDec.NET to address grade crossing management issues.

The above screen shot from GradeDec.NET shows one of its results reporting formats.

The DecisionTek Solution

 DecisionTek’s web-based, decision support solutions promote collaborative decision-making while integrating multiple data resources within an enterprise. Your bottom-line concerns are reflected in a business model that accounts for risks and uncertainty, which yields results that support fully-informed decisions. DecisionTek can apply its process and experience to develop a custom application tailored to meet the needs of your organization.