201207 – Godber – Cars and Trains Don’t Mix! The Development of the Safer Level Crossings

From the construction of the very first railways, there has been a need for railway tracks to cross other rights of way. Over the past century, the speed, mass, propulsion methods, quantity and sophistication of the vehicles using the intersections between roads and railways have changed enormously. In addition, the methods of control and the operational cultures of both modes of transport have developed along different paths. While management of safety at rail-road level crossings has attempted to align these cultures, it has not been totally successful in preventing collisions.

Both modes can demonstrate long term improvement trends in safety, but level crossings continue to be a concern for road and rail operators, and for the community. This paper reviews the development of protection methods for railway level crossings, with particular reference to the hierarchy of control and human behaviour. It tracks the increasing involvement of the signal engineer in the safe separation of road and rail traffic and proposes some opportunities for
improving level crossing safety into the future.