Considering the current levels of growth forecast both for road and railway traffic, potential risks at the road-rail junctions will also increase, imposing the adoption of immediate measures for enhancing safety and risk control at European level.
In Europe, there is a constant concern for increasing safety at level crossings. The SELCAT project (Safer European Level Crossing Appraisal and Technology), initiated in 2006 and primarily aimed at delivering a study of advanced technologies which might be then put in practice for reducing current risks, has set up several recommendations developed around two major ideas: using advanced technological solutions designed for minimising the impact of human factors as main cause of level crossings accidents and a joint road-rail strategy for controlling and reducing risks at level crossings.
According to the latest models proposed by the project, an efficient solution for detecting hindrances is based on using the video analysis technology, which is currently available at low costs, as experts in the field believe. This solution integrate other up-to-date technologies such as using satellite location and radio transmission systems. A relevant example where video cameras with internal analysis are used is Germany, especially at level crossings located near stations. These video cameras are in the responsibility of traffic managers. “Radar cameras, by immediately making the decision based on the information delivered to the operator, is an efficient safety and control method. Improving level crossings safety has positive effects on the safety of both rail and road traffic”, believes Florin Ilisei, Expert I, AFER.
One of the manufacturers who have listened to recommendations and develop such security systems is Alstom who has followed two solutions: the first one consists in installing video cameras in the area of fully-closed passages surveyed by the traffic manager who will authorise the train to pass only if the passage is free and the second solutions consists in keeping the two semi-barriers and installing road dividers at 50 or 70 m before the passage, thus eliminating the possibility of vehicles of going round the barriers.
According to the Romanian Police, more than 90% of the total accidents which occur at level crossings is caused by road traffic participants who don’t observe traffic rules. “The Romanian Police develops national activities aimed at preventing and reducing the number of road accidents at level crossings; the outcomes are presented to rail infrastructure managers who act accordingly. We have participated, together with representatives of the authorities and of the road and railway companies, in a work group where all preventing measures and the equipment with signalling and safety installations have been analysed and the decisions made are mainly implemented on the Trans-European corridors”, pointed out Paul Andreiana, Police Chief Commissioner at the Transport Department of the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police.
In Romania, infrastructure managers have implemented the methods promoted at European level for increased safety at level crossings. “The video system used at fully-closed passages is a safer operation mode for railways. We enhance the infrastructure equipping with the ERTMS Level 2, which has not only interoperability, but also safety connotations and the GSM-R component provides us with permanent control between the locomotive and the infrastructure. For increasing safety, all level crossings located on the pan-European Corridor IV and on Buftea – Brazi sector, where the ERTMS pilot project will be installed, are equipped with 4 semi-barriers and, where necessary, we build suspended bridges. This security system can be extended to the entire infrastructure in the future”, declared Constantin Onuiu, Project Deputy Manager, CNCF CFR SA.
Level crossings safety is once again brought to the attention of the participants in the ILCAD (International Level Crossing Awareness Day), an event coordinated by UIC on June 9, running under the motto “Act safely at level crossings”. We can only expect to seen the long-term results of adopting these measures.
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