As far as advertising to the public more, I agree. A few years back the Operation Lifesaver Campaign was seen on local TV and radio almost everyday. The origination is still around and running well but you hardly ever see it. www.oli.org I think the big lines can somewhat handle putting up more protection at crossings but it comes at a cost. It is nothing for me to see a damaged crossing gate or one that has been knocked lose because someone was in a hurry and decided to risk their lives and those who were with them and drive straight through it. The NS has started to put road islands about between 20 to 80 feet long in the middle of the road right at some of the worst crossing in my area. These islands help idiots from hurting themselves. I will admit it is a hard choice at not so well kept crossings. There was a crash at a small crossing on a nearby short line a few years ago. It was on a one track mainline and a two-lane road. It was a really rural area. The tress and vegetation had grown right up to the tracks almost making it a blind crossing. Unless you had a short hood you almost had to be right on the tracks to see anything. The crash was early in the morning and two people in the car were killed. Needless to say they have almost striped all vegetation always from the line. It took the lives of two for the railroad AND the state to realize that all crossings even small ones with only cross buck signs need to be clear and safe.
This second reply is mainly for Johnny Trains, today as I went around Lexington to pick up a few things and pay bills I stopped at a crossing and talked to the MOW crew for NS. They were in fact upgrading the crossing with what I was told is quad-gates, which do just exactly that, block the road by going ALL the way across. I will see about getting some pics of the quad-gates and the barricade islands I mentioned earlier. According the crewmember I talked to, this is to insure that no one gets across. It was a two part reason, one was of course safety because everyone tries to run this crossing, however he also said it was to increase the speed of the trains in the next few years.
Thanks Scuzzy! I look forward to seeing those gates. I hope to be railfanning in Pa. and Ohio later this summer, and hopefully Virginia too. I'll be looking to see if I come across any! I just wonder why things take so long to come about. Well, it's an expense to upgrade anything, but loss of life and lawyers fees should have opened eyes a long long time ago.
There's a TV commerical for the Cadillac Escalade, and it shows two trains waining on opposite sides of a crossing waiting on the Caddilac to cross, once the SUV crossed that trains blasted through. WHO THE HECK IS STUPID ENOUGH TO DEVELOP THAT KIND OF AN ADD?? Also, a local grade crossing has had no incidents that I know of and most everyone drives past when flashing (takes almost a minute for the train to finally cross the tracks after flashing starts). Sometimes, the lights start flashing and nothing ever comes then they go back off, no local yard to trip the criossing activator. CSX has constantly worked on it but never got it right, I would guess they'll replace then soon.
In urban/congested area's the half gates allow traffic moving slowly or stopped on the crossing to clear while (theoretically) preventing more traffic from entering the crossing. With four gates (the more common option in the UK) the length of the crossing sequence has to be lengthened as the "arriving" pair of gates has to come down and the "departing" air of gates has to wait a couple of extra seconds to allow traffic to clear. I would hope that allowing emergency vehicles through is NOT a reason for having half width gates, a train can take out a police car, ambulance or fire truck just as easily as a regular vehicle, and neither the train crew nor the blue lights will be able to alter that.
You are right Martyn. The original thought was to allow an escape route for cars on the crossing after the gates started down. There has never been any provision for emergency vehicles as far as I know or remember. I believe the new 4 quadrant gates are arranged (see 234.223 below, last sentence) so that the 2nd gate is slightly delayed to allow cars to escape but not sure. I checked the Code of Federal Regulations and found these 2 section that apply §234.223 Gate arm. Each gate arm, when in the downward position, shall extend across each lane of approaching highway traffic and shall be maintained in a condition sufficient to be clearly viewed by approaching highway users. Each gate arm shall start its downward motion not less than three seconds after flashing lights begin to operate and shall assume the horizontal position at least five seconds before the arrival of any normal train movement through the crossing. At those crossings equipped with four quadrant gates, the timing requirements of this section apply to entrance gates only. §234.225 Activation of warning system. A highway-rail grade crossing warning system shall be maintained to activate in accordance with the design of the warning system, but in no event shall it provide less than 20 seconds warning time for the normal operation of through trains before the grade crossing is occupied by rail traffic. [ 26 June 2002, 20:47: Message edited by: signalguy ]
It is correct that there never has been any consideration of emergency vehicle traffic. In fact, most agencies train their personnel to use other routes if they are on an emergency call and find a crossing obstructed by a train. I've had three or four times that I've seen an ambulance on an emergency call turn around when the crew saw the crossing blocked. For safety and liability reasons, we also make a point whenever we hear an emergency vehicle in the area since we run at ten miles an hour or less in the downtown area.
