Jesse Baker, Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board (RISSB): Railway level crossing (RLX) safety: New technology research and applications

Railway level crossing safety

workshop

Jesse Baker

5.3.13

Grand Hyatt Melbourne

Where roads meet rails

Quantifying the problem

The first level crossing? – the Diolkos

(on the Isthmus of Corinth)

The Isthmus of Corinth

The Isthmus

of Corinth

The Diolkos

The Diolkos

The Diolkos

Ancient Corinth

Evolution of the level crossing

• 2500 years of

stagnation

• Until sometime

in the 1800s

when flagmen

were introduced

• Late 1800s we

saw closable

gates

• Shortly after

that came the

car !

Evolution of the level crossing

Evolution of the level crossing

• By the 1960s

we started to

see

automatic

level

crossings

Level crossings today

• 23,500 locations where roads intersect railway lines

around Australia.

• 100 incidents at level crossings per year

• 37 deaths

Level crossings today