Level crossings, or same-level intersections between rail and road, are a safety problem inherited from the past. "If we were building all our railways today we would have no level crossings at all", said Anders Lundström from the European Railway Agency speaking at the ETSC/ERA Railway Safety Lunch. However, tens of thousands of level crossings are so inseparably interwoven in today's railway network that we will have no choice but to live with them for decades to come.
Level crossings are fraught with risks because it is the point where a more centralized and controlled transport mode, such as railway, meets less controlled and more chaotic road transport, said Anders Lundström from ERA. Therefore it is necessary to take into account the deficiencies of both of these modes in order to enhance safety at their point of interface. Trying to understand the problem
Road users - car and truck occupants, cyclists and pedestrians - are both the main cause and the principal victims of accidents at level crossings. Thus human behavioural factors must be studied carefully in order to tackle the problem. Without their better understanding it will be impossible to raise people's awareness of the risks associated with level crossings, Michael Robson, European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM) said. Why do people actually cross barred level crossings while fully knowing about the possible fatal dangers? A research has been undertaken by EIM, and its results will be used in its future public campaigns.
The other area which needs to be examined is level crossings themselves. A level crossing appraisal project, SELCAT, involving 19 countries in Europe as well as partners in Japan, China, India and Russia was underway at the University of Braunschweig, Germany, said Eckchard Schneider. Once available, its results will be used to improve the understanding of safety aspects of level crossings. Most countries have statutory or non-statutory rules for the operation of level crossings, covering such areas as types of crossings to be used for specified road and rail traffic levels, maximum permitted train speeds for the different types of crossing, the protective equipment required, video surveillance, road layouts and gradients, and the warning sequences for road users. However, each country's rules have developed separately, and are different from each other. Lessons can be learnt by a better exchange of information on improvement measures, their implementation and accidents reports, as Antonio Avenoso of the ETSC suggested. He was echoed by Anders Lundström who said that, while the absolute majority of accidents was caused by road users, railways were also responsible for their small proportion. The Agency will set up shortly common safety targets for level crossing users at Member State level through a risk based approach. SCommission has its hands tied up
Karel Van Miert reminded the audience of the same rigid application of subsidiarity principle towards regulating maritime safety issues in the past. When, however, a major accident happened several years ago the EU was blamed for not having done enough in this area which had previously been under absolute jurisdiction of the Member States. He warned the national authorities against making a similar mistake in the railway sector. What can be done?
The ultimate solution, of course, would be the removal of all level crossing, and some countries worked hard on this, Michael Robson from EIM said. Finland removed over one thousand level crossings over the past several years, spending between 7 and 14 mln EUR a year on these works. A number of other countries also have on-going long-term programmes for replacing level crossings with bridges and underpasses. The priorities for these programmes are railway lines with relatively high speeds, lines where increases in speeds are planned, lines in urban areas, lines on which dangerous goods are carried, and locations with poor visibility. However, the magnitude of the problem can be seen from the following figure: France alone has over 19,000 level crossings.
The accident death rate at the UK's 7,000 level crossings was improving, Alan Davies from Rail Safety and Standards Board said. The country has stepped up educational efforts aimed at all road users: from children for whom lectures were organised at schools, to traffic offenders who might soon see a chapter on level crossings introduced into exams, to the general public targeted through a nationwide public campaign on TV and in the outdoors media. Also, as usual with traffic safety, enforcement of the current regulation and strict prosecution in cases of its violation were also very important. Winding up the debate, Anders Lundström said that while all new railroads in Europe were free of level crossings, the existing ones would continue to be in place for several decades to come, and authorities, rail operators and road users should all do their best to render their operation as safe as possible.
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