Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)

Vol-3, Issue-9, 2017

ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

A Review Paper on the Evaluating cost-effective

Railway Level Crossing Protection System
Ms. Madhura J. Joshi1, Prof. D. B. Desai2 & Dr. A. K. Gupta3
1
PG Student, Civil Engineering Department, Dr. J.J.Magdum College of Engineering,
Jaysingpur, Maharashtra, India.
2
Asso. Professor, Dr.J.J.Magdum College of Engineering, Jaysingpur, Maharashtra, India.
3
former Professor & Principal, Dr. J.J.Magdum College of Engineering, Jaysingpur,
Maharashtra, India.
Abstract: Railway safety is a crucial aspect of rail movements of road users are not organized and
operation the world over. Malfunctions resulting in monitored by one specific entity as rigidly as rail
accidents usually get wide media coverage even movements. The railway systems of Asia and the
when the railway is not at fault and give to rail Pacific are no exception to this. Each year, accidents
transport, among the uninformed public, an at level crossings not only cause fatalities or serious
undeserved image of inefficiency often fueling calls injuries to many thousands of road users and railway
for immediate reforms. Rail/road intersections are passengers, but also impose a heavy financial burden
very unique, special, potentially dangerous and yet in terms of disruptions of railway and road services
unavoidable in the World. During the normal and damages to railway and road vehicles and
operation also, there is every possibility of accidents property. Closure of crossings, grade separation and
occurring even with very little negligence in installation of active protection at level crossings
procedure and the result is of very high risk. The with passive controls are undoubtedly the most
potential for accidents is made higher as the effective approaches to reducing the risk of collisions
railways control only half the problem. at railway level crossings. However, the feasibility of
This study was carried out based on such approaches is questionable given economic and
literature review. Evaluation of the requirements of a logistical implications While in-vehicle technologies
Safety Management Information System which helping drivers perform the driving task become
adequately addresses the needs of railway more pervasive, there is a lack of evaluation of the
management for information on level crossing safety effects such interventions would have on driver
performance. Review the technical attribution and behavior if applied to railway crossings, particularly
suitability of network in the event of an unsafe failure of the technology A
very high number of these collisions are caused by
1. Introduction the negligence, incompetence or incapacity of road
vehicle drivers, who by and large operate their
Railway safety is a crucial aspect of rail vehicles in environments in which safety
operation the world over. Malfunctions resulting in consciousness is practically non-existent.
accidents usually get wide media coverage even Since it is the railway which must bear the
when the railway is not at fault and give to rail responsibility for ensuring that it is protected from
transport, among the uninformed public, an the transgressions by road users (despite the fact that
undeserved image of inefficiency often fueling calls in many countries the law gives it priority of passage
for immediate reforms. Rail/road intersections are over road users), it is the railway which also has to
very unique, special, potentially dangerous and yet shoulder most of the financial burden of providing
unavoidable in the World. Here two different entities this Protection. Similarly, it is the railway, which has
with entirely different responsibilities, domains, most of the responsibility for educating road users on
performances come together and converge for a the safe use of its Cost effective system for Railway
single cause of providing a facility to the road user. level crossing protection appears that in many
During the normal operation also, there is every regions, railways are ill-equipped to be in a position
possibility of accidents occurring even with very to monitor level crossing safety effectively and to
little negligence in procedure and the result is of very take both corrective and pro-active measures to
high risk. The potential for accidents is made higher improve the safety of their level crossing
as the railways control only half the problem. The installations. Railway is an Eco-Friendly and Popular
other half, meanwhile, cannot really be said to be mode of transport in major cities of the World. Train
controlled by one entity, as even though traffic rules accidents occur normally due to safety violations
and road design standards supposedly exist, the resulting from „human errors or limitations‟ and
„equipment failures‟ loosing precious lives. The

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-9, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), Govt. of

India has referred many collisions in the past few Title:- Design and Development of
years and therefore need for research is very Intelligent Automatic Train Collision
important in this field. The current action plan is
focusing no eliminating almost all the Broad Gauge Avoidance System
unmanned level crossing numbering 6352 in the next Author: Brinda
3-4 years. While Indian Railways has eliminated The goal of this work is to design and
1148 level crossings and 1253 level crossing in implement a cost effective and intelligent Train Anti
2015-16, it has scaled up its target and now plans to Collision System to prevent the train collisions. It
eliminate 1440 level crossings. aims to efficiently integrate into existing signaling
It may be mentioned that substantial funds system and avoid accidents in platforms and railway
are required in the task of eliminating unmanned gate crossing. Presently, emergency may be passed
level crossing. Till such time when all the unmanned through traditional telecommunication systems like
level crossings are eliminated from the railway Walkie-Talkies or other communication devices. In
network, Indian Railways have been taking measures the traditional communication method, human error
to prevent accidents at such level crossings. In 2014- or carelessness may lead to severe disasters as
15, 50 accidents took place at unmanned level noticed in the past. In places where there is no
crossings while in 2015-16 it came down to 29. Till indication of the coming train, most of the people are
1st April, 2016 a total 4326 Gate Mitras were losing lives.
deployed at vulnerable level crossings.
Title:- A Sensor Platform for the Protection of
Railway Infrastructures
Author: Eduardo
2. Literature Review In this paper we focus on railway
infrastructure protection and we present the details of
Title:- Pedestrian Safety at Rail Grade Crossings: a sensor platform designed to be integrated into a
Focus Areas for Research and Intervention slab track system in order to carry out both
Author: Paul & Sriraj installation and maintenance monitoring activities. In
This paper reports on findings from the the installation phase, the platform helps operators to
literature and discussions with professionals in the install the slab tracks in the right position. In the
public and private sectors involved in safety at rail maintenance phase, the platform collects information
grade crossings. Major areas found in need for about the structural health and behavior of the
improvement include (a) advancing consistent infrastructure when a train travels along it and relays
standards for warning devices and treatments; (b) the readings to a base station.
advancing consistent approaches for managing non-
motorist risk; and (c)continuing commitment to Title:- Human Behavioral Aspects of Level
education, engineering, enforcement, and evaluation Crossing Safety with Special Reference to Indian
efforts by enabling stakeholders to provide adequate Railways
resources. The paper highlights the multitude of Author: Kumar
factors related to pedestrian safety in this context, The present paper describes various
and provides an informed discussion for researchers parameters of behavioral science related to LC. The
and practitioners involved in advancing safety present study indicates that on Indian Railways, gate
initiatives. closure time on most of the L.C is unusually long
and beyond the tolerance of the road users. About 30
Title:- Driving Simulator Evaluation of the % of the vehicle drivers have reaction time more
Failure of an Audio In-vehicle Warning for than 2 seconds which results in delayed decisions
Railway Level Crossings and actions, sometimes resulting into accidents
Author: Christian
The effect of the failure of the in vehicle
audio warning technology showed that most
participants did not experience difficulties in
3. Scope, Methodology and Purpose
detecting the approaching train even though they did
not receive any warning message. This showed that 3.1 Scope:-
participants were still actively looking for trains with Following are the objectives of the proposed
the system in their vehicle. However, two dissertation work.
participants did not stop and one decided to beat the a) To study the present status of level-crossing
train when they did not receive the audio message, accident.
suggesting potential human factors issues to be b) To study present statistics, indicator,
considered with such technology. technology & problems relating to the

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Vol-3, Issue-9, 2017
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

system adopted for level –crossing [2] Larue1Gre´goire S., Wullems Christian,(2015) “
protection in practices Driving Simulator Evaluation of the Failure of an Audio
c) To study various alternative system for level In-vehicle Warning for Railway Level Crossings”, Journal
crossing protection on urban rail transit ,Vol-1,No.3, pp-141-145
d) To analyze the various alternative systems [3] Brinda R, Ranjitha R, Sindhu J, Chaitra V,
for level crossing protection & to suggest Chaithanya.S, Dept. of ECE, RRCE, Bengaluru
the best feasible altenatives. (2015) “Design and Development of Intelligent Automatic
e) To study the humun behavioural aspect of Train Collision Avoidance System”, International Journal
level crossing safety with special reference of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Systems (IJEECS),
to Indian railway. Vol. 3, No. 9,pp-29-31
Above work will carried out by taking a
case study. [4] Cañete Eduardo, Chen Jaime, Diaz Manuel, Llopis
Luis and Rubio Bartolome, (2015) “Sensor4PRI: A Sensor
3.2 Methodology:- Platform for the Protection of Railway Infrastructures.”
Journal on the science and technology of sensors,Vol.-
For carrying out the proposed work, following 15,pp- 4999-5003
Methodology will be adopted for data collecting and
analysis. [5] Kumar Amit, (2012) “Human Behavioral Aspects of
a. Evaluation of the requirements of a Safety Level Crossing Safety with Special Reference to Indian
Management Information System which Railways”, Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial
adequately addresses the needs of railway Engineering (JJMIE), Vol.6, pp-41-43
management for information on level crossing
safety performance;
b. Review of the essential and effective safety,
enhancements, measures and priorities for level
crossings;
c. Assessment of level crossing safety
performance and safety measures in some
countries;
d. Examination of Cost Benefit Analysis of
investments on level crossing safety
enhancement;
e. Review of the technical attributes and
suitability of Networked Anti Collision System
(ACD) for level crossing protection system;
f. Recommendations and guidelines for adoption
of networked ACD Systems by railways
3.3 Purpose of Dissertation:-
Find out the present status of level-crossing
accidents. Analyze various alternative systems for
level-crossing protection. The Human Behavioral
Aspects of Level Crossing Safety with Special
Reference to Indian Railways There is currently
considerable research and practical action being
taken by the industry to better safety at level
crossings and to implement additional controls and
upgrades to improve level crossing safety
performance. The risk at level crossings is dominated
by fatality risk, rather than major or minor injuries.
After delegation we should get proper signaling
system
References
[1] Paul & Sriraj(2015)” Pedestrian Safety at Rail Grade
Crossings: Focus Areas for Research and Intervention”,
International Journal of civil ,(IJEECS), Vol. 2, No.56, pp
320-380

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