Skip to main content

Safer rail crossings with ESA satellites

Germany-headquartered Berner and Mattner is to carry out a feasibility study, SafeRail - Improving Safety at Railway Level Crossings, on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). The objective of the study, which is to be carried out within ESA’s Integrated Applications Promotion Program, is to determine the technical feasibility and economic viability of a space-based service using an integrated solution which employs different types of space assets in combination with already existing terrestrial techno
March 21, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Germany-headquartered Berner and Mattner is to carry out a feasibility study, SafeRail - Improving Safety at Railway Level Crossings, on behalf of 6780 The European Space Agency (ESA).  

The objective of the study, which is to be carried out within ESA’s Integrated Applications Promotion Program, is to determine the technical feasibility and economic viability of a space-based service using an integrated solution which employs different types of space assets in combination with already existing terrestrial technologies.

Technical methods to be considered range from determining railroad vehicles’ position using relative measurements carried out by the railroad company and by satellite navigation to redundant terrestrial and satellite communication and integrated traffic information systems that provide the driver with suitable information.

The potential risk of railway level crossings as an intersection of two different traffic modes is very high. A quarter of all railroad fatalities are caused by accidents at railway level crossings. Due to the high variety of existing technical safety systems, efficient modernisation of the current systems is difficult.

Support agreements with several relevant European users and stakeholders have been established during preparation of the study. The results of the study will be presented to the user community during an awareness event.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Regulating rural road use
    June 20, 2016
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes
  • Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    January 10, 2013
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort
  • Cooperative infrastructures, cooperative enforcement?
    March 2, 2012
    A dozen years from now, will enforcement still be constrained by the legislative thinking which currently prevails? Or will the needs of the wider transport community bring about some welcome changes?
  • Øresund bridges the front line for border crossing traffic
    September 15, 2016
    Timothy Compston considers the challenges faced by the operators of the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the largest structure of its kind across Europe. In light of the concerns about the ongoing security threat and the unprecedented flow of migrants, many of the countries that make up the Schengen Area in Europe have re-introduced border controls. For its part, Sweden has rolled out ID checks for train, bus and ferry passengers from Denmark placing the landmark Øresund Bridge very much on the fr