At-grade crossings: Innovation, safety, sophisticated new technology

Railway Track and Structures, June, 1999 by Monica Black

There are many variables where the road meets the rail: efficient surface maintenance and good communication are among the most important.

Though the safety and maintenance of grade crossings presents an ongoing challenge to the railroad industry, its suppliers and its associations, it is often the case that the public itself remains relatively unconcerned about the issue until a large-scale collision takes place and forces the subject back into the forefront of the national consciousness.

In the State of Illinois, site of a fatal collision between Amtrak's City of New Orleans and a tractor-trailer at Bourbonnais, a $150-million supplement is being considered for allocation for improvement to the safety of the state's grade crossings. Though this intended allocation of funds is not causally linked to the crash, what happened at Bourbonnais, one might speculate, may make it easier for the governor of Illinois to get this part of his $12-billion Illinois First spending proposal through the legislature.

The public debate about grade crossings and what can be done to improve their safety has been amplified in the aftermath of this terrible event. But what precisely is the industry doing, both on its own and in cooperation with various government agencies, to find new and better ways of increasing awareness of crossing dangers and of upgrading and maintaining at-grade crossings in general?

Plenty, it seems. In North Carolina, in an aggressive attempt to prevent deadly grade-crossing incidents and in preparation for high-speed rail service, the NC DOT has constructed four-quadrant gates and median barriers at locations in Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte. Humped conditions have been eliminated at two crossings in Cabarrus County, and another two humped crossings have been eliminated in Wake County, replaced by one with four-quadrant gates.

Portions of the North Carolina sealed-corridor project have been completed in cooperation with Norfolk Southern. At the Sugar Creek Road crossing in Charlotte, for example, NC DOT and NS carried out tests of four-quadrant gates and median barriers. "Violator" video equipment was used to record and collect data of violations at the crossing. NC DOT and NS are expanding the scope of their work to include sealing the entire corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte, through the most-heavily-traveled portion of the state. Every crossing will be protected with median barriers, long gate arms, new signage and traffic control devices.

Additionally, an Intelligent Signal Monitoring System is being proposed for each crossing to inform engineers and railroad personnel of impediments or malfunctions on the road. This system can also be connected to local law enforcement, emergency and fire-fighting authorities, and, additionally, be made accessible to highway authorities and municipalities for information on traffic congestion and management.

Demonstration project on NEC

In Connecticut, a $1-million demonstration project, funded by a Federal Railroad Administration grant and Connecticut DOT, is being undertaken at the School Street crossing in Groton/West Mystic. In anticipation of high-speed service on the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak has been working with various communities to close or upgrade all of the remaining grade crossings on the NEC. At School Street, a two-lane suburban road that crosses Amtrak's New Haven to Boston Shoreline, the crossing's makeover will include the use of more-sophisticated incursion-detection technology and the construction and testing of a four-quadrant gate.

Conn DOT, in cooperation with Amtrak, FRA and private-sector engineers, developed the in-cab, at-grade advanced warning system to be linked to the existing signal system. Detector loops have been installed in the grade: one on each of the field sides, one on each of the gauge sides and then two on the inside between the two tracks; these enable the locomotive engineer to be notified electronically concerning any impediment on the rails. The warning system can itself stop the train if sufficient space exists between the incursion and the train.

A Union Switch & Signal Microlok vital/non-vital processor executes the vital logic required for motor vehicle detection, gate operation and the locomotive cab indications that alert the engineer that obstructions exist on the rails. The processor constantly monitors the status of the loop detectors, information which is, in turn, passed to the non-vital portion of the processor, and directs information to a data-logger for storage.

At Abington, Mass., along MBTA's Old Colony Transit Line, testing is ongoing to determine the proper sequence control of a four-quadrant exit-gate-control system prior to the start of the operational stage. The Adjunct Island Control System, manufactured by Primetech Electronics, consists of special Magnetic Detection Sensors hard-wired to a Central Controller. When a signal is received from the standard track circuit that a train is approaching the crossing, the sensor array is asked to determine whether it detects the presence of a vehicle or other obstruction.