Study promises to improve European level crossing safety

The objective of SafeRail, led by Berner & Mattner, was to increase safety at the intersection of rail and road traffic, using technical means provided by space based services. Other teams involved came from the Austrian companies Brimatech Services, Joanneum Research, and TeleConsult Austria, as well as the UK's Avanti Communications.

The project's motivation stems from the fact that a third of all fatalities in European rail traffic take place at one of Europe's 150,000 railway crossings. Over 98% of all accidents are caused by drivers, from lack of attention or failure to observe signals and barriers due to impatience.

During the study, the group investigated several scenarios, focussing on detection of the train's position. As a pilot project carried out with two secondary line operators in Austria, the Level Crossing Operations (LCO) system designed during the study will become reality. Here, the goal is to enable control centres for secondary lines to optimise railway level crossing activation. At the same time, the need for infrastructure installations along the line are reduced, and passive level crossings without a technical system indicating an approaching train to the road user can be upgraded cost-effectively.

The most important ‘space’ component in the cost-effective solution to improve rail crossing safety comprises continuous train position determination using GNSS. The process, developed by the SafeRail team, makes it possible to determine the position and speed of rail vehicles more accurately, so that signals and barriers at the crossing can be triggered as needed. In particular this means that crossings near optional stations no longer need to be kept closed any longer than necessary.

The system meets all safety standards applicable to rail traffic and increases safety at railway crossings without the need for costly local installations. The waiting times for drivers are reduced, leading to a reduced number of accidents due to drivers who cross an activated crossing out of impatience.