Level crossing

The term level crossing (also called a railroad crossing, railway crossing, train crossing or grade crossing) is a crossing on one level ("at-grade intersection") — without recourse to a bridge or tunnel — of a railway line by a road, path, or another railroad. It also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way (or a reserved track tramway) crosses a road; the term "metro" usually means that there are no level crossings (i.e., that the system is grade-separated).

Safety

Early level crossings had a flagman in a nearby booth who would, on the approach of a train, wave a red flag or lantern to stop all traffic and clear the tracks. Manual or electrical closable gates that barricaded the roadway were later introduced. The gates were intended to be a complete barrier against intrusion of any road traffic onto the railway. In the early days of the railways much road traffic was horsedrawn or included livestock. It was thus necessary to provide a real barrier.

With the appearance of motor vehicles, this barrier became less and less effective and the need for a barrier to livestock diminished dramatically. Many countries therefore substituted the gated crossings with less strong but highly visible barriers and relied upon road users following the associated warning signals to stop.

In many countries, level crossings on less important roads and railway lines are often "open" or "uncontrolled", sometimes with warning lights or bells to warn of approaching trains. Ungated crossings represent a safety issue; many accidents have occurred due to failure to notice or obey the warning. Railways in the United States are adding reflectors to the side of each train car to help prevent accidents at level crossings. In some countries, such as Ireland, instead of an open crossing there may be manually operated gates, which the motorist must open and close. These too have significant risks, as they are unsafe to use without possessing a knowledge of the train timetable: motorists may be instructed to telephone the railway signaller, but may not always do so.

The consensus in contemporary railway design is to avoid the use of level crossings. The director of rail safety at the UK Railway Inspectorate commented in 2004 that "the use of level crossings contributes the greatest potential for catastrophic risk on the railways." Eighteen people were killed in the UK on level crossings in 2003-4. Bridges and tunnels are now favoured.

At railway stations a pedestrian level crossing is sometimes provided to allow passengers to reach other platforms in the absence of an underpass or bridge.

Where third rail systems have level crossings, there is a gap in the third rail over the level crossing, but the power supply is not interrupted since trains have current collectors in the front and rear cars; however, care must be taken that a current or voltage gap is not created between the two ends.

Crossings around the world

Australia

In Melbourne, Australia, there are several level crossings where the train tracks cross roads with tram tracks. Australian railroading generally follows United States practice, and has increasingly been employing American-made crossing warning equipment, such as grade crossing predictors, which attempt to provide a consistent amount of warning time for a trains of widely varying speeds.

One recent innovation in Australia is to provide crossbucks with flashing yellow lights at a distance from the level crossing itself, particularly where there are curves and visibility problems.

Italy

The cable-hauled section of the tramway up the hill from Trieste to Opicina has an interesting level crossing with a minor road at midpoint. As well as the rails, people crossing have to step or drive over two haulage cables, separated by wooden planking.

Netherlands

New Zealand

On the Taieri Gorge line, and in two places on the Hokitika Branch, in rural South Island, New Zealand, roads and railways share the same bridge when crossing a river; the rails are in the road and both motorists and the train driver must ensure that the bridge is clear, end to end, before starting to cross.

Southeast Asia

Level crossings in China, Thailand, and Malaysia are still largely manually-operated, where the barriers are lowered using a manual switch when trains approach. A significant number of crossings are without barriers.

Taiwan

As most railroads in Taiwan were built during Japanese administration, railroad crossings remain very common, though many urban crossings have been eliminated when the railroads are moved underground, e.g., segments of the Western Line in Taipei City, or abolished, e.g., Danshui Line that is now of the Taipei Rapid Transit System with no level crossings.

The Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations (zh:道路交通管理處罰條例) provide different penalties against different types of violators as follows (with very heavy penalties against motorists and lighter penalties against bicyclists and pedestrians):

Article 54: A driver of a motor vehicle shall be administratively fined 6000 to 12000 new Taiwan dollars for a railroad crossing violation. Should an accident occur, the driver license shall also be revoked, which is for life pursuant to Article 67. This lifetime revolation used to be absolute, but the amendment proclaimed on 28 December 2005 has allowed a possible waiver after serving 6 years of the revocation.

Article 75: A driver of a non-motirized vehicle (e.g., a bicycle) shall be administratively fined 1200 to 2400 new Taiwan dollars for a railroad crossing violation.

Article 80: A pedistrian shall be administratively fined 1200 new Taiwan dollars for a railroad crossing violation.

Accidents at railroad crossings remain a very serious concern. Red emergency buttons have been installed to allow the public to report an emergency at a level crossing, such as stalled vehicles or any obstables that would be very dangerous should any train approach. However, willfully misusing the emergency button is a criminal offense. In an emergency, the public is asked to:

First, press the button and be sure of its activation with a flashing light.
Second, try to clear any obstables, including any vehicles.
Third, if unable to clear the obstables and the warning bell rings, leave quickly. "A train is coming and please quickly leave the level crossing" will be announced in Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka.

United Kingdom

There are 8200 level crossings remaining in the United Kingdom in 2005. Of these, 1600 are road crossings. This number is gradually being reduced as the risk of accident at level crossings is considered high. The director of the HSE (Health and Safety Inspectorate) commented in 2004 that "the use of level crossings contributes the greatest potential for catastrophic risk on the railways." . Bridges and tunnels are now favoured, and there is a commitment on the part of UK rail authorities not to build new level crossings, and to reduce the number of existing level crossings. The cost of making significant reductions, other than by simply closing the crossings, is substantial, and a number of commentators argue that the money could be better spent. Some 6500 crossings are user-worked crossings or footpaths with very low usage. The removal of crossings can also improve train performance as some crossings have low rail speed limits enforced on them to protect road users.

In November 2004 there were two major accidents on UK level crossings: one involved a car driver suspected of committing suicide, who caused the death of seven people (Ufton Nervet rail crash); another involving a train carrying 50 school children resulted in no fatalities but a number of injuries. These incidents have increased efforts to review the placing of level crossings and to eliminate them where this is practicable. In the UK it has also been suggested that cameras similar to the type used to detect drivers who run traffic lights be deployed at level crossings, and that penalties for ignoring signals should be much more severe. A particular problem has been that the responsibility for the road safety at crossings is entirely outside the control of the railways. In 2006 legislative activities are in progress to permit Network Rail to be involved in the road side safety of crossings. This will allow the introduction of anti-slip surfaces and also barriers to prevent motorists driving around crossing arms and, it is hoped, reduce the number of crossing related deaths.

In the United Kingdom, major crossings were normally situated within easy viewing distance of a signal box, and usually directly adjacent to the signal box. This ensured that the signalman could verify that the road was clear before allowing a train onto the crossing. Many gated crossings have been replaced by lifting barriers, which are easier to mechanise. "Full barriers" consist of barriers each side of the track, which block the full width of the road and "half barriers" consist of a single arm each side of the road, which block only oncoming traffic. Half barriers were considered to have an advantage as motorists are less likely to be stranded on the crossing and unable to exit, but cases where impatient motorists have driven around the barriers have raised safety concerns. Video cameras are now often used at crossings to allow the human operator to be some distance from the crossing. On lightly-used railways many crossings are sited next to station stops or other stopping points and are crew operated. The guard pushes a plunger on a control box and the barriers are lowered. Once lowered an indicator light permits the driver to proceed if the crossing ahead of is clear. After the train has cleared the crossing automatic control equipment raises the barriers.

To ensure that the barriers are noticed and to draw attention, public road crossings are fitted with a ringing warning bell or siren and with lights. Each crossing point also has a telephone which connects to the local signalbox so that in the case of an emergency the signalman's attention can be drawn promptly to the hazard and action can be taken. Some "automatic open crossings", with warning lights and bells but no barriers, were introduced, but their expansion was largely halted after the Lockington rail crash. Some smaller crossings, particularly pedestrian crossings on low-speed lines consist of nothing but a warning sign and raised pathway across the track itself.

The use of pedestrian crossings at stations is now rare, although historically it was common that passengers walked across the line between platforms on branch lines. With a few exceptions, such as at Carmarthen, the remaining examples occur only on heritage railways.

United States

In the United States and in countries following U.S. practices, a train must have a bright headlight and ditch lights, a working bell, and a whistle or horn that must be sounded four times as the train approaches the crossing. Some American cities, in the interest of noise abatement, have passed laws prohibiting the sounding of bells and whistles; however, their ability to enforce such rules is debatable. In December 2003, the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration published regulations that would create areas where train horns could be silenced, provided that certain safety measures were put in place. Additional information can be found at the FRA website and under "Train horn rule." Implementation of the new "Quiet Zone" Final Rule was delayed repeatedly, but it was finally implemented in the summer of 2005.

All crossings in the United States are required to be marked by at least a crossbuck; most crossings that intersect rural roads have this setup. As traffic on the road crossing or the rail crossing increases, safety features are increased accordingly. More heavily trafficked crossings have alternately flashing red lights to warn motorists, and a bell to warn pedestrians. Additional safety is attained through crossing gates that block motorists' approach to the tracks when activated. Increasingly, crossings are being fitted with four-quadrant gates to prevent circumventing the barrier and crossing the tracks.

A special kind of crossing sign assembly was introduced on an experimental basis in Ohio in 1992, the "Buckeye Crossbuck" It not only includes an enhanced crossbuck, reflective and with red lettering, but also includes a reflective plate reading "YIELD" below the crossbuck, whose sides are bent backwards in order to catch and reflect at a right angle the light of an approaching train. The experiment's final report ("Evaluation of the Buckeye Crossbuck at Public, Passive Railroad/Highway Grade Crossings in Ohio", Ohio Department of Transportatoin State Job Number 14612, December 2000) gave the device a favorable review Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices[http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ppts/training/2003changes/MUTCD03_Part_8and10.ppt" target="_blank" >^*.

A handful of level crossings still use wigwag signals, which were developed in the early 1900s by the Pacific Electric Railway interurban system in the Los Angeles region to protect its many level crossings. Though now considered to be antique, around 100 such signals are still in use, almost all on branch lines. By law, these signals must be replaced by the now-standard alternating red lights when they are retired.

A track that will run high-speed trains in excess of 120 mph (193 km/h) is being tested in Illinois between Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri. Here, due to the high speed of the trains, gates that totally prevent road traffic from reaching the tracks are mandatory on all level crossings, and steel mesh nets are being tested on the busier crossings to further prevent collisions. These are already in place in Southeastern Connecticut along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor; the rest of the Northeast Corridor is grade-separated.

Accidents

Hixon rail crash — 1968
Lockington rail crash — 1968
Fox River Grove level crossing accident — 1995
Bourbonnais train accident — 1999
Gerogery level crossing accident — 2001
Ufton Nervet rail crash — 2004
Glendale train crash — 2005
Polgahawela level crossing collision, Sri Lanka — 2005: a bus tries to beat the train at a level crossing; at least 35 people are killed.
Johannesburg level crossing accident — 2005: 9 killed.
Nagpur level crossing disaster — 55 killed.

External links

Cost-effective Systems for Railway Level-Crossing Protection from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Train horn rule at the US Federal Railroad Administration
Part 8. Traffic Controls for Highway-Rail Grade Crossings of the U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
Fatal example of crossings danger - News story from the BBC on a 2004 accident in which 7 people died.
Level Crossing Strategy Council - New South Wales, Australia.

Level crossings | Rail infrastructure | Road infrastructure

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