Railway Crossings with lights/gates

[K_Man]

Originally Posted by T_Terror

Hold on, looks like im the only that dosnt see the problem with moving through once the gates are up.

No i dont floor it as soon as the gates go up but i start moving forward once they are up and have had a chance to look up and down the tracks.

If you cant spot a train coming at you then you are going to crash pretty soon anyway.

What do you care if someone moves forward while its still flashing, i dont see how it will affect you?

That's also assuming that the tracks are straight with nothing obstructing your view. I know the Riversdale rd crossing the line curves in both directions, can probably only see 50m each way. How fast you reckon a train covers 50m?

[xr8man83]

[QUOTE=MADNC_8]the view along the tracks is obscured by lines of trees planted along them (obviously to act as a noise break)
that'd be ok years ago when the trains would have been slower, but they're now running express trains along the same line......once you see the train coming past the line of trees its too late

i dont know how the railway works down there but you should be able to complain and get somthing done specially if its a safety issue

[T_Terror]

Originally Posted by new2ford

Those were his last words.
T_Terror there are two posts here that help answer your question: mine
If the lights are still flashing and the gates have gone up the lights could have been activated by a train coming the other direction and the gates about to come down again.

and xr8man83's
A lot of people think that the rail only has trains but there is all sorts of stuff on the line and there is a lot of smaller R3 rated machines that dont detect when traviling. If one of these smaller machines (could be up to 20t) it is following a consist of machines going over a road crossing the I.R.Js wont detect it and the boom gates will rise up and if some fool takes off without looking its goodbye to them and that is one of the reasons that there is a delay with the lights and the boom gates.

Most people dont actually look down the tracks and listen out for trains when the lights stop flashing.
Like someone else said the trains take a loooong time to stop.
In the situation that youve hypothesized, where a 2nd train/machine comes and fails to activate the boom gates in time and comes flying through then the people who waited for the lights to stop as well are going to get cleaned up as they cross as well because that train isnt stopping, it dosnt matter how polite the motorists are.


Heres another scenario for everyone.
Youre at a crossing and the boom gates are stuck closed.
Youve been waiting for 30mins, traffic is piled up and you cant go back.
You see the car in front of you go through the closed gates.
Visibility is 100m on either side.
DO you go through or wait it out? :nutsycuck :newangel:

[JG66ME]

Originally Posted by Quicklier

Hi all,
Since moving to the Northern 'burbs of Melbourne, I'm crossing more and more railway lines. That's fine, I like trains and I realise they're very good and moving lots of people long distances.

What I don't like is when people (stopped at the lights to allow a train through) proceed through the red flashing lights. Do they not realise just because the boom gates have started to lift, the red lights still mean STOP?

I see so many cars boot it the second the gates start coming up. It's classed as running a red in Vic if you proceed whilst the lights are flashing. The sign even says 'Stop when lights flash', nothing about boom gates.

Does anyone else share my fear that one of these cars will be hit?

Yes its against the law, you should wait. In answer to your other question thoug, they are not likely to be hit though if the booms are going up. This is how a crossing works on multi track areas.

The first train strikes in with a minimum of 25 secs before it arrives at the crossing. The lights flash instantly it strikes, 8 secs later the booms lower and are closed in about 18 secs after strike in. The look back is then doubled for a second train should one strike in while the booms are down. The crossing is designed so that if they start to open they will be open for 25 secs before the next train strikes in. That’s 50 secs before another train arrives. Crossings are designed on fail safe principles so they would never fail to close.

Flashing lights without booms have no extended look back so the risk of being hit is real.

Single line areas the separation of trains means there is no risk.

The biggest risk is people who stand across the crossing. A suburban train takes about 500 to 600 meters to stop. A sprinter at 130k takes about 1000m. A freight train at 80k takes about 1500m to stop, and over 2000m on a down hill. The Velocity at 160k takes about 800m in dry conditions on level track.

Steve

[JG66ME]

Originally Posted by K_Man

That's also assuming that the tracks are straight with nothing obstructing your view. I know the Riversdale rd crossing the line curves in both directions, can probably only see 50m each way. How fast you reckon a train covers 50m?

At 80kmh that will be 2 secs.

[Quicklier]

Originally Posted by T_Terror

Heres another scenario for everyone.
Youre at a crossing and the boom gates are stuck closed.
Youve been waiting for 30mins, traffic is piled up and you cant go back.
You see the car in front of you go through the closed gates.
Visibility is 100m on either side.
DO you go through or wait it out? :nutsycuck :newangel:

Go around the level crossing by conducting a u-turn (if safe).

[JG66ME]

You should never EVER go around boom gates. If they remain down they have failed but its likely for a train to strike in.

I saw a video of a Coal train leaving Callemondah yard in Gladstone. Because it took the coal train driver about 3 mins to lift his train, people started to duck around the gates. The coal train was 1800m long so the car drivers where getting annoyed. After the coal train cleared, the booms stayed down and people started ducking around again, just as the tilt train passed the crossing at 160kmh, just missing a tip truck.

Dont go through flashing lights EVER unless flagged through by a saftey officer. And thats not a Police man, he dose not have direct contact with train control.

[kyro_02]

if you wait, everyone starts abusing you and honk'n their horn.. i just cross as soon as the booms are up

solution: make road go under the tracks

[Auslandau]

Boom gates are up, I go, simple as that! Gates are up, no trains. As JG66 said about the tripping of lights is correct and is fail proof (as much as it can be). And no I dont abuse anyoone who sits and waits for lights finish as I dont think I have ever come across anyone who does sit and wait. Different at non gated country crossings though. If you want to wait thats up to you to be doubly sure but if a train came in that time of gates up lights flashing.......would mean that the fail safe has collapsed, and about 4 cars being cleaned up in one hit. Hasnt, shouldnt happen. It proberly will one day but more chance of being shot while sitting at the boom gates waiting for the gates to go up by a rampant road rager!

As far as deaths go, in Melb it does avarage out at about 1 per week for suicide in front of trains. Brother 'n' law cleans up the messes afterwards. Not reported, also same for westgate jumps go unreported.



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[new2ford]

You have to think of the flashing lights as the equivalent of a red traffic light. Would you go through a red light on some assumption that it was going to turn green and you thought nothing was coming?

There are situations where a red traffic light will get stuck and I know people make judgements according to what they see. But making assumptions about railway lights is like russian roulette. Unlike traffic lights they do have a pretty failsafe regime. Its just not worth the certainly fatal risk. If somebody is tooting you they don't know their road rules. If it gets nasty maybe invite them to go past you - then get the hell out of the way.