Keywords: level crossing, risk assessment, statistical analysis, transport mode, geographical region, traffic moment, railway safety.

As demonstrated by accident and incident statistics, level crossing (LC) safety is one of the most critical issues that railway stakeholders need to deal with. About 1200 accidents occur on average every year at European LCs accounting for about one-third of the entire railway accidents, and result in more than 300 deaths per year in Europe. LC safety involves various aspects: technical elements, operational procedures, human factors and environmental considerations. On the other hand, the efficiency of several experiments adopted in recent years to improve LC safety (such as using obstacle detection at LCs, setting islets in front of LCs, etc.) is disputable due to the lack of thorough risk analysis establishing the potential relationship between impacting factors and the safety level. In this paper, we focus on risk analysis at automated LCs with two half barriers (SAL2), which are widely used in France. Various kinds of impacting factors: transport mode, geographical region and traffic moment are analysed by means of statistical techniques to establish their statistic models and distribution characteristics based on the accident data from SNCF, the French railway operator. Then, we assess the effect of various factors on the risk level qualitatively and quantitatively, in such a way as to open the way for setting efficient solutions and consequently, reaching the point of improving LC safety.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £22)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £85 +P&P)