Israel Railways took part in the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) for the fourth time. IR delegates assigned at level crossings and nearby petrol stations gave road drivers brochures and branded presents in order to raise awareness.
Traffic police is cooperating with IR focusing on enforcement at level crossings for a whole week nationwide.
According to Mr Boaz Zafrir, CEO of Israel Railways, IR is one of the world leaders in development and implementation of advanced technological means to improve safety at level crossings. Nevertheless even that is not capable of stopping a train running at high speed when a vehicle enters a level crossing having passed the closed barrier and red light.
In 2014 18,000 road vehicles entered the level crossing area after barriers started to lower, causing trains emergency breakings and risking human lives. 79 barriers where broken and level of service was influenced by weekly train delays of 350 minutes on average.
Almost all level crossing accidents are caused by the dangerous behaviour of road users.
Over the last ten years the number of level crossings in Israel has been reduced by 50% from 152 in 2005 to 75 through a 600,000,000 NIS investment in level separations.
In addition new technologies have been developed and implemented in the short run on level crossings:
- Advance traffic lights – in order to enhance level crossing visibility and to prevent vehicles entering the area in case of queue gliding.
- VMD cameras – Video Motion Detection in order to detect a vehicle standing on the track and send an emergency alarm to the Safety Centre.
- Radar scanners – Detecting level crossing after barriers are closed. In case of vehicle in the LX adjacent train signals are set automatically to Danger and ATP is activated.
- Loop Detectors – Detecting the level crossing after barriers are closed. In case of vehicle in the LX a danger announcement is transmitted to nearby train drivers and to the Safety Centre.
- Advance Road Signage – usually located in front of level crossings with pure visibility from the road driver’s point of view.
