pete75 wrote:Many years ago a very safe type of level crossing was invented and there were few such instances. A lot have been replaced with the seemingly more dangerous type of crossing like the one where these deaths occured. Here's one of the older, safer types still in use at Heckington. Train coming signal man checks the line is clear and closes the gates. Until relatively recently even very minor crossings had gates and a chap sitting in a hut to open and close. Most have gone in the interests of cost saving.
Interestingly, it wasn't only in the interests of cost-saving per se. There was an incentive to reduce the amount of staffing needed, as BR in the 1950's and 1960's was not a desirable employer and struggled to get enough people. But it wasn't just about saving money; no, the introduction of Automatic Half-Barrier level crossings was also seen as a way to make sure that the old-fashioned railway with it's gates/barriers interlocked with signals (so closed for long periods) didn't hold up Road Traffic. Even back in the 1960's and 1970's, the attitudes of MGIF and not getting in the way of The Sacred Motorcar were taking hold.
Bear in mind, the principle of operation of AHB LC (as designed by BR in the 1960's) is minimal road closure and compliant motorist. They are NOT interlocked with signals, so by the time the barriers drop, the train is only a few seconds away. However, so long as the motorists stop at the barriers/lights, they are perfectly safe (far more so than pretty much ay other road control system except maybe a swing-bridge).
Then the Hixon crash happened
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsum ... p?docID=74, and suddenly the realisation dawned that the dependance of AHB LCs on the motorist being compliant was not the greatest idea ever come up with. After Hixon, installation of AHB LCs mostly stopped, with strict rules about where they were allowed to remain.
Over time, as traffic got busier and motorists increasingly took the wig-wag red lights as "advisory" if they were in a hurry, full-barriered crossings interlocked with signals and supervised (whether directly or by CCTV) came back in. Of course, the railway couldn't win, as interlocking barriers with signals means the crossings are closed for longer. The fully interlocked LC with full barriers is fundamentally the same as the old gated LCs, but with modern kit plus extra stuff like road traffic lights- wig-wags- and yodelarms, and TPWS on the protecting signals. The "chap in the hut" may still be adjacent- or may be monitoring on CCTV. (Note that Barriers are safer than Gates for the Crossing attendant, as it is not at all unknown for road traffic to hit the gates whilst being shut, and thus seriously injure the crossing attendant; and it's much easier to motorise barrier operation than gate operation).
You mght be surprised at how many impatient road vehicles knock LC barriers off; as it happens, many of them are installed with sacrificial "shear bolts" these days so they can be quickly put back on again and so reduce delays to train passengers that result from the crossing being broken.
The cost of poor motorist behaviour to the UK taxpayer is not insignificant, as Network Rail end up having to spend money to build bridges to enable them to close "bad-actor" level crossings, or to put in loads of high-grade kit. Compare that to Europe, where there is much less pandering to lack of awareness/competence of motorists. And people in UK wonder why train fares are expensive.............. (If anyone wants to see the amount of requirements for LC's, the ORR Guidance is here:
http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_fil ... idance.pdf freely available to the public.).
Motorist behaviour at LCs does beg the question tho: if all motorists cannot reliably see (perceive) and react correctly to a LC with barriers and wig-wags, how on earth can they be relied on to see (perceive) and correctly react to a cyclist? I also wonder, how many motorists know what the Highway Code says about LCs (e.g. what to do if the barriers remain down, or if stalled on crossing) these days? (Probably the same number who know how much space to give a cyclist when passing
).
TPO.
