ELCRF is an informal group that brings together rail and highway safety professionals from European countries developed as an on-going activity following the 8th Level Crossing Safety and Trespass Symposium in 2004.
The purpose of the ELCRF is to provide a network to improve the safety of the “at-grade road/rail interface” (level crossings) by facilitating the exchange of information on experiences and lessons learned, as well as technological concepts to support understanding and advancement.
The 6 meetings held so far have been very successful, with as many as 20 different countries and companies attending, giving presentations on current level crossing development programmes and aspirations for the future. There have also been participants from the ERA, ETSC and there is active participation from the UIC.
Whilst the perception of risk of level crossings to the road sector is small – based on the very low numbers of fatalities at level crossings when compared with the several thousands that die on Europe’s roads each year – the risk of accident at a level crossing to the rail sector (currently 37% of all accidents recorded on the UIC safety database for 2005) remains very significant but is not a risk that can be managed by the rail sector in isolation.
ELCRF’s principle objective is the continued drive towards a much closer relationship with the roads sector, supporting their understanding of the issue and developing a position whereby the “at-grade road/rail interface” (level crossings) is being managed as a bi-modal issue. The initial aim is to learn from each other and share research findings thus enabling the rail community, with joint input from the road sector, to lead the development of future strategies of a joined-up nature using commonly accepted practices that in turn reduces the level of risk for the rail community and raises the profile of level crossings to a true “road/rail interface”.
ELCRF espouses a series of common themes based around the 6 “Es”:
o Evaluation
o Economics
o Engineering (road and rail)
o Enabling
o Education
o Enforcement
The recent meeting in Helsinki took place on 18th and 19th October and was hosted by RHK the Finnish Rail Administration. Delegates including road and rail organisations, national safety authorities and state regulators, were welcomed to Helsinki by RHK’s Harri Yli-Villamo, Head of the Project Planning Unit and regular ELCRF delegate, Anne Ahtiainen..
It was also the first meeting at which incoming chairman Jürgen Menge presided. This represents a vital step forward in meeting ELCRF’s core objective of bimodality as Mr Menge comes from the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transportation, Agriculture and Viniculture, Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany where he is Head of the Advisory Department dealing with road transportation and road safety.
In addition to the new chairman, the meeting was also able to welcome debut participation from JBV the Norwegian Infrastructure Manager.
The meeting had two core themes, one being insurance and accident costs and research investments in level crossing safety and the other being about education of our neighbours and users to the serious potential their errors and omissions can bring to the safety of the railway.
Simon Fletcher, Senior Safety and Interoperability Manager and Lazlo Tordai, Coordinator of the SELCAT project, represented the UIC.
Lazlo Tordai, on behalf of the SELCAT partners, outlined the latest developments in the project as it arrives at its critical halfway stage – it is due to end in June 2008.
Simon’s contribution was both informative – as he outlined the arrangements for the 10th World Symposium on level crossing safety that will take place at the UIC in June 2008 (www.levelcrossing2008.com) – and also set the members of ELCRF a challenge as he proposed that ELCRF should take on an objective of harnessing the many successful national level crossing educational programmes into a coordinated education programme at EU level to improve road driver awareness.
ELCRF could also play a key role in engaging with police and law enforcement agencies for stronger enforcement of road rule violations involving level crossings and the railway in general. The creation of a European level crossing strategy should be encouraged and a senior level multi-disciplined group to enable the strategy. Such a group would also follow on the SELCAT work when that project ends and would rekindle the good work undertaken by DGTREN which culminated in their roads sector report of December 2003. The UIC will be leading some development work around this in order to engage with a number of key players and to prepare an outline set of proposals.
A further meeting of ELCRF is planned to take place at the invitation of SBB/CFF in Berne, Switzerland on 3rd and 4th April 2008. Details of this meeting which is open to anyone from the road or rail sector with an interest in level crossings will be posted on the ELCRF website – www.levelcrossing.org/elcf or can be obtained by contacting Simon Fletcher – fletcher at uic.asso.fr