Background:
Railway level crossing crashes are
one of the most serious safety issues faced by the rail industry in
Australia. There are more than 9,400 public railway level crossings
in Australia, of which approximately 2,650 (30%) have 'active'
protection; 6,060 have 'passive' protection and the remainder have
other control or protection. The major limitation of providing
active level crossing protection is the high cost of providing
track-circuit-based boom gate systems. Increasing the affordability
and cost-effectiveness of level crossing protection will allow a
greater number of sites to be protected.
Objective:
This project aims to look at options using new technologies that
are cheaper to install and maintain. Combinations of non-vital
technology such as GPS will be considered by including a vital
systems integrity backup system which delivers reduced
functionality if needed.
Project
scope:
This project will look specifically
at new affordable level crossing protection systems for crossings
in regional areas and occupational crossings in areas with high
speed passenger trains. It will specifically research the
specifications requirements and vital system elements and the human
factors elements for a system of any type. The project will exclude
non-starters and avoid replicating existing products already tested
in Australia and overseas. The project will also address the safety
vitality issues associated with signalling principles design. The
project will be closely linked to industry and will seek the
involvement of Australian Level Crossing Assessment Model committee
with its industry expertise. In addition, the project will link
with the road safety community to ensure emerging technologies and
relevant behavioural elements are incorporated in potential
solutions.
Benefits
The industry wide benefits of this project are estimated at 10
percent reduction in collisions. It should be note that the real
savings are difficult to assess as it is difficult to place an
accurate value on the lives saved and property protected from the
successful completion of this project.
Expected outcomes:
Expected outcomes of this project
include literature and product
Review, the development of engineering and human factors
specifications requirements as well as preliminary evaluation of
candidate systems and recommendation of a prototype for further
evaluation.
Project
timeframe:
2 years
Project
Chair:
Neil Keynes,
Senior Civil Engineering Strategist, Queensland Rail
Project
Leaders:
Dr Hussein
Dia
Director,
Intelligent Transport Systems Research Lab
Senior
Lecturer, Civil Engineering, University of Queensland
Tel: (07) 3365
3517
Email: H.Dia@uq.edu.au
A/Prof Yvonne
Toft
Head,
Department of Health & Human Performance
Associate
Professor, Human Factors / Systems Safety, Central Queensland
University
Tel: (07) 4930
9068
Email: y.toft@cqu.edu.au
Return to
original page
