UK to improve level crossing safety

As part of a recent rail investment package, the Department for Transport has ring-fenced a US$100 million fund for safety improvements to level crossings between 2014 and 2019, and Optex has announced that its Redscan laser detector has been specified as part of a new solution to automate signalling and detect whether or not a level crossing is clear from vehicles and pedestrians before allowing a train to pass through.
July 27, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
As part of a recent rail investment package, the 1837 Department for Transport has ring-fenced a US$100 million fund for safety improvements to level crossings between 2014 and 2019, and Optex has announced that its Redscan laser detector has been specified as part of a new solution to automate signalling and detect whether or not a level crossing is clear from vehicles and pedestrians before allowing a train to pass through.

Following nearly two years of testing, TEW Plus, a supplier of specialist CCTV and security products, has achieved full 5021 Network Rail Product Approval for its level crossing obstacle detector using the Redscan as the core detection element. The complete MCB-OD Level Crossings solution incorporates Lidar as the complimentary obstacle detector (COD) working alongside Radar and CCTV surveillance equipment. The solution will be rolled out to more than 400 level crossings over the next five years.

In separate news, Network Rail is to install a spoken-word warning system at 63 level crossings, starting in the York/Selby area. Instead of a two-tone alarm, a spoken announcement will warn if another train is approaching. The Rail Safety and Standards Board has advised that voice messages should improve awareness, instead of relying solely on alarms.

Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

Related Content

  • June 16, 2014
    LED road studs aid level crossing safety
    Active LED solar road studs supplied by Rennicks UK have been granted a Certificate of Acceptance by the authority responsible for the UK’s railways, paving the way for the studs to be installed at level crossings around the country. Rennicks say that the road studs are an intuitive signal to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in the approach to and crossing the track. The studs use dual LEDs with an internal prismatic system for high performance and solar/battery technology for environmental sustaina
    Read More
  • May 19, 2021
    SNCF uses ITS to make crossings safer
    There are too many deaths where road and rail intersect: Virginie Taillandier, smart level crossing project manager at French rail group SNCF, outlines how ITS communications can help
    Read More
  • May 8, 2015
    Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e
    Read More
  • October 5, 2018
    One in seven UK drivers would cross a level crossing illegally, says study
    One in seven UK drivers would drive over a level crossing before the barrier or gate has opened, according to new research. Research agency Populus carried out a study on behalf of Network Rail which reveals six UK drivers have been killed at level crossings in the last five years. There are also around 46 incidents every week in the UK involving vehicles at level crossings – a third of which are caused by lorries, followed by cars at 28%. According to the report, one in nine drivers would go over a l
    Read More

Highlighted Content