On 15 October 2024, at UIC HQ in Paris, the UIC Opt-In Project “AI4SAFEBEHAVE” was launched, which involves the use of Artificial Intelligence to observe incorrect conduct at level crossings, trespassing and suicidal behaviour. It will run until the end of June 2026.
IMOTION ANALYTICS, represented by CEO Alejandro Murillo Ruiz, Javier Moro Palao, Manuel Magario and Luis Mollinedo Herrera will be heavily involved in the project alongside the funding members: Danish State Railways (DSB), Network Rail, ProRail, Italian Railway Network (RFI), and Trafikverket.
The different working groups: Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN) and Trespass and Suicide Prevention Network (TreSP-Network) will also regularly be informed about the project’s progress.
Reasoning:
Engineering solutions, education, awareness and enforcement measures currently in effect are not sufficient or satisfactory, as most collisions at and around tracks are caused by human factors. Therefore, AI technology can help the railways in their daily operation by offering technical solutions to reduce the number of train incidents and the related casualties or predict dangerous situations and the amount of potential accidents.
This is why UIC, together with its members, decided to launch the project to leverage the benefits from AI to better observe human behaviours at level crossings, for trespassing incidents on railway tracks and premises, or even for attempted suicides in order to reduce accidents and fatalities.
The advantages:
- Enhance railway system safety by reducing suicides, trespassing and the misuse of level crossings
- Enhance railway system performance by reducing incidents and thereby delays
The main foreseen outcomes:
- An IRS
- Creation of UIC guidelines
- Release of a UIC toolbox
- Proposed mitigation measures
Additional resources
- The UIC Safety Database compiles rail safety statistics from over 30 countries. It shows that in 2021 more than a quarter (27%) of all significant rail accidents and almost a third (32%) of all accidental fatalities were at level crossings. That is 276 lives lost on level crossings in just one year. External causes (trespassing, and level crossings) were responsible for nearly 80% of accidents. Third parties represented 96% of all fatalities and 86% of serious injuries. On a global scale, the toll will unfortunately be many times greater.
- UIC’s 2022 best practice guide for level crossing risk assessment developed by members of the UIC Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN)
