49 CFR § 234.1 - Scope.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t49/s234.1"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "49 CFR § 234.1 - Scope."
title_number: 49
title_name: "Transportation"
section_number: "234.1"
section_name: "Scope."
chapter_name: "FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION"
part_number: "234"
part_name: "GRADE CROSSING SAFETY"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "49 U.S.C. 20103, 20107, 20152, 20160, 21301, 21304, 21311, 22907 note; 28 U.S.C. 2461 note; and 49 CFR 1.89."
regulatory_source: "61 FR 31806, June 20, 1996, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "234"
---


# 234.1 Scope.

(a) This part prescribes minimum—

(1) Maintenance, inspection, and testing standards for highway-rail grade crossing warning systems;

(2) Standards for the reporting of failures of highway-rail grade crossing warning systems and for the actions that railroads must take when such systems malfunction;

(3) Requirements for certain identified States to update their existing State highway-rail grade crossing action plans and submit reports about the implementation of their existing plans and for the remaining States and the District of Columbia to develop State highway-rail grade crossing action plans;

(4) Requirements that certain railroads establish systems for receiving toll-free telephone calls reporting various unsafe conditions at highway-rail grade crossings and pathway grade crossings, and for taking certain actions in response to those calls; and

(5) Requirements for reporting to, and periodically updating information contained in, the U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory for highway-rail and pathway crossings.

(b) This part does not restrict a railroad from adopting and enforcing additional or more stringent requirements not inconsistent with this part.

[77 FR 35190, June 12, 2012, as amended at 80 FR 786, Jan. 6, 2015; 85 FR 80659, Dec. 14, 2020]