Prioritising road-rail level crossings for grade separation using a multi-criteria approach

There are 177 at-grade rail road level crossings within Melbourne's metropolitan rail network. Each crossing represents a conflict point between trains and road traffic including cars, buses, trams, cyclists and pedestrians. Whilst the desire to eliminate level crossings is often based on safety needs, in the Melbourne context congestion is a major driver for grade separation. In particular it is the interaction between the crossings and neighbouring signalled junctions that is a significant contributor to congestion and a barrier to the efficient performance of the transport network. This conflict will be exacerbated by increasing train volumes: some crossings are forecast to carry nearly 40 trains per hour at peak times by 2021. This paper considers the assessment criteria available to prioritise metropolitan level crossings for grade separation. These include conventional economic, social and environmental measures as well as Melbourne specific 'strategic fit' criteria that reflect the relative importance of different roads to the transport network overall. In particular the paper discusses the challenges of data constraints, the weighting of quantitative versus qualitative indicators and the difficulties of accurately estimating the potential delay benefits from grade separations for a large range of sites.

• Record URL:
  • http://atrf.info/papers/2009/2009_Taylor_Crawford.pdf
• 
• Authors:
  • Taylor, J
  • Crawford, R
• Conference:
  • Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 32nd, 2009, Auckland, New Zealand
• Publication Date: 2009-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 15p (session Wed 3A)
• Serial:
  • Volume: 32

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Highway safety; Interchanges; Railroad grade crossings; Traffic congestion; Transportation planning
• Uncontrolled Terms: Planning and Environment
• Geographic Terms: Melbourne (Australia)
• ATRI Terms: Interchange; Level crossing; Priority; Road safety; Traffic congestion; Transport planning
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01381628
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 22 2012 12:39PM