Reading a railroad crossing record, field by field

A federal crossing record looks like a long row of codes and numbers. It is easier to read once you know where each value comes from. Every record is filed on the U.S. DOT Crossing Inventory Form, Form FRA F 6180.71, and the FRA's public dataset says which box of the form each column holds. This note walks through a record in the order of the form, explains what each group of fields tells you, and points out the places where readers most often go wrong.

The box numbers below are the ones the dataset gives for each column. Field names in the dataset are written as single words, such as crossingposition; Rail Crossing Atlas shows the same values with plain labels.

The header: when, who and why

Four boxes at the top of the form say who reported the record, when and why. They are the first thing to read, because they tell you how much to trust the rest.

• Revision date (Box A)The date the crossing data was last updated. Every count in the record is as of this report, or older.
• Reporting agency type (Box B)Whether the update came from a railroad or from a state agency. Under the federal rules a state may report on a railroad's behalf.
• Reason code (Box C)A coded reason for the update. It shows whether the report was a routine refresh or recorded a specific change.
• Crossing ID (Box D)The DOT crossing inventory number. It is the one value that identifies the crossing in every report, and the one to quote when you cite a record.

If you only have a street name, the Rail Crossing Atlas guide on finding a crossing's DOT number shows how to get from a place to its crossing ID.

Where the crossing is

The first part of the form places the crossing on the map and on the railroad. The record names the state, the county and the city or town, along with the railroad that operates through the crossing and the division and subdivision of its network. The railroad milepost (Box I.12) gives the crossing's distance along the line, which is how railroads themselves refer to a location.

The record also carries a latitude and longitude. Most records have a usable location, but not all. When we drew the map on this site from the FRA inventory of 4 October 2026, 202,487 of the 203,235 open crossings at track level had a location we could place inside their state. A record without one is still a valid record; it simply cannot be shown as a point.

What kind of crossing it is

Three boxes classify the crossing. Together they decide which counts a crossing appears in.

• Crossing type (Box I.17) says whether the crossing is public or private. The difference is legal, not physical: a public crossing has approaches maintained by a public authority and open to public travel.
• Crossing purpose (Box I.18) says whether it carries a road, a pathway, or pedestrians at a station.
• Crossing position (Box I.19) says whether the road meets the railroad at grade, at track level, or whether the railroad passes over or under the road.

A separate status field marks whether the crossing is closed. Rail Crossing Atlas counts crossings reported open and at grade: 203,136 in the FRA inventory of 3 November 2026, of which 126,083 are public. A total from another source can differ simply because it includes grade-separated or closed records, so always check which filter a count uses.

The railroad side

The second part of the form describes the trains and the track.

• Type of train service (Box I.21)Up to six types of train service that use the crossing, such as freight or passenger service.
• Through trains by day and by night (Boxes II.1.A and II.1.B)The typical number of through trains in daytime, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and at night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
• Switching trainsTrains that move cars around a yard or an industry rather than passing through. They are counted separately from through trains.
• Maximum timetable speed (Box II.3.A)The highest speed the railroad's timetable allows through the crossing. It is a limit, not a measured speed.
• Number of main tracks (Box II.4)How many main tracks cross the road.

The train counts have no date of their own. They are as old as the report that last changed them, which is why the revision date in the header matters so much. A count reported years ago may no longer describe how the line is used today.

Signs and signals

The third part of the form counts the traffic control devices at the crossing, one box per kind. The dataset holds, among others:

• crossbuck assemblies, the X-shaped railroad crossing signs (Box III.2.A);
• stop signs (Box III.2.B);
• roadway gate arms (Box III.3.A);
• flashing light structures that are cantilevered or bridged over a traffic lane (Box III.3.C);
• pairs of flashing lights (Box III.3.E);
• bells (Box III.3.I).

These are counts, so a crossing with gates on both approaches shows two gate arms or more. A zero and a blank are not the same: zero means the reporter counted none, while a blank means nothing was reported. Rail Crossing Atlas groups public crossings by the devices their records list: 55,334 public crossings record gates, 13,738 record flashing lights without gates, 52,706 record signs only, and 4,305 record other devices or none at all. Its guide on why crossings have gates or lights has more on these groups.

The road side, and how old its counts are

A later part of the form describes the road. The best-known value is the annual average daily traffic, the number of vehicles that use the road on an average day (Box V.7). The record can also say whether the road is a school bus route and give other details of the highway.

Unlike the train counts, a road count is recorded with the year it was taken. That makes it possible to see how old the counts are. For the 126,083 public crossings in the inventory of 3 November 2026, the years of the road counts were:

Half of the road counts with a valid year were taken in 2013 or earlier, and fewer than three in ten were taken in 2020 or later. Traffic on many roads has changed since. A road count in a crossing record is best read as the last figure someone reported, with its year beside it, and not as today's traffic.

The quiet zone field

Box I.25 records whether the crossing is in a quiet zone, where trains do not routinely sound their horns. The dataset notes that FRA provides this value itself, rather than the reporting railroad or state. In the inventory of 3 November 2026, Rail Crossing Atlas finds 4,921 public crossings with a quiet zone designation, in 44 states. Its quiet zones pages list them by state.

Five habits for reading a record

1. Start with the header. The revision date and the reporting agency tell you how fresh the record is and who stands behind it.
2. Check the filter behind any total. Open, at grade, public or all: each choice gives a different count.
3. Keep blanks and zeros apart. A blank is unknown; a zero is a reported count of none.
4. Read counts with their dates. Road counts carry a year; train counts carry only the revision date of the record.
5. Look at the history. Earlier versions of the record show what changed and when it was reported. The Rail Crossing Atlas guide to reading a crossing record's history shows how.

The full list of columns, with the form box for each, is on the FRA dataset page on data.transportation.gov. The road-count years above come from the Rail Crossing Atlas crossing facts page.

Sources

Figures are as the source showed them on the date given. Rail Crossing Atlas figures come from the FRA crossing inventory of the date stated in the text.

1. Crossing Inventory Data, Current: the FRA dataset and its column descriptions on data.transportation.gov. Read 3 November 2026.
2. Rail Crossing Atlas: crossing facts, road count years for public crossings. Read 3 November 2026.
3. Rail Crossing Atlas guide: why crossings have gates or lights. Read 3 November 2026.
4. Rail Crossing Atlas: quiet zones by state. Read 3 November 2026.
5. Rail Crossing Atlas guide: find a crossing's DOT number. Read 3 November 2026.
6. Rail Crossing Atlas guide: reading a crossing record's history. Read 3 November 2026.