SUMMARY

Electronic Surveillance of Railroad-Highway Crossings for Collision Avoidance: State of the Practice

Electronic surveillance of rail crossings has been increasingly employed to monitor grade crossings. Purposes for electronic surveillance at rail crossings include safety monitoring, traffic management, security, incident investigation, remote monitoring and control, data collection and analysis, and assessment of the effectiveness of traffic control and warning devices. The information gained from the analysis of the surveillance data can then enhance engineering, education, and enforcement (also known as the “three E’s”) efforts for rail crossing safety.

The objective of this study is to document current practices and lessons learned from rail service providers and others regarding the types, nature, implementations, successes, and failures of rail crossing electronic surveillance programs, particularly related to safety. The synthesis also touches on potential future advancements in rail crossing surveillance.

The approach to collecting and documenting practices related to electronic surveillance of rail transit and commuter rail crossings included a literature search and review, a questionnaire to survey agencies and individuals knowledgeable and experienced about electronic surveillance of rail crossings, and follow-up interviews to develop selected case examples.

The analysis of survey responses provided good insights about the needs, decision criteria, measure of effectiveness, success factors, causes for failures, and selected implementations of rail crossing electronic surveillance programs, primarily for safety.

The case examples provide detailed insights into a variety of electronic surveillance approaches at rail crossings in terms of technologies and applications. Chicago Transit Authority Metra and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) provided insights and lessons related to photo enforcement at rail crossings. Utah Transit Authority (UTA) provided experience with wider integration of electronic surveillance within the institutional framework and project development through great support from the leadership. The Rutgers team (including New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority Metro North crossing) and the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) pilot programs, through funding support from Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), provided an understanding of video analytics for the identification of trespassing problems and the safety effectiveness of different design treatments using a risk tool. Electronic surveillance has a role in understanding blockage and delays to traffic and emergency operations at rail crossings because of train events, as shown by the implementation of the TRAINFO system. Network Rail (NR), based in Great Britain, is an international example, which has different institutional contexts and an integrated electronic surveillance system for monitoring rail crossings.

Suggestions for further study include the following:

• Conduct comprehensive studies to quantify both the costs and benefits of electronic surveillance systems at rail crossings. This includes initial installation costs, recurring maintenance expenses, and potential savings from reduced accidents and improved efficiency.
• Develop and test prototypes that utilize artificial intelligence for real-time monitoring and decision-making at rail crossings. This could include object detection, behavior analysis, and predictive analytics to enhance safety.
• Research and develop standards for integrating electronic surveillance systems with existing rail infrastructure and communication networks.
• Investigate modular designs and software update mechanisms to ensure systems can be easily upgraded with new technologies and improvements.
• Examine successful examples of institutional support, such as those demonstrated by UTA and TriMet, to identify key factors that contributed to their success.
• Develop a framework for other agencies to replicate these best practices of institutional support, including stakeholder engagement, funding strategies, and policy support.
• Create performance metrics based on data obtained from electronic surveillance systems. Metrics could include incident rates, response times, false alarm rates, and system uptime.
• Investigate methods for integrating detailed safety data into broader safety management systems to enhance the effectiveness of the “three E’s” of rail crossing safety: engineering, education, and enforcement.
• Utilize granular data to develop predictive models that can identify high-risk scenarios and guide proactive safety measures.