Evaluation of alternative detection technologies for trains and highway vehicles at highway rail intersections in the United States

Under sponsorship from the Federal Railroad Administration, the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. and the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center evaluated five technologies for their ability to detect trains and/or highway vehicles approaching and occupying highway/railroad intersections. The Transportation Technology Center conducted tests on the performance of these technologies during October and November 1999 at the Federal Railroad Administration's Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado, United States of America. The categories of evaluation included train approach detection, train island detection, static highway vehicle detection and dynamic highway vehicle detection. Intelligent Transportation System information was also collected to evaluate the technologies' ability to determine train direction, train speed and train length. Results suggest that although promising performance was observed, most of the prototype systems using these alternative detection technologies did not always interpret train and highway vehicle presence within prescribed limits. In some instances, these problems were due to the placement of sensors. In revenue service applications, alternate locations for certain sensors may improve performance. Features of some of the prototypes detection systems tested were encouraging and future evaluations are planned.

• Corporate Authors:

  Monash University

  Wellington Road
  Clayton, Victoria  Australia  3800
• Authors:
  • Carroll, A A
  • Gordon, J E
  • Reiff, R P
  • Gage, S E
• Conference:
  • INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON RAILROAD-HIGHWAY GRADE CROSSING RESEARCH AND SAFETY, 7TH, 2002, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
• Publication Date: 2002

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: Proceedings: Seventh International Symposium on Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Research and Safety: Getting Active at Passive Crossings: Wednesday, Thursday 20-21 February 2002, Melbourne, Australia

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Intelligent transportation systems; Railroad grade crossings; Railroad trains; Sensors; Technology; Traffic surveillance; Vehicle detectors; Vehicles
• ATRI Terms: Accuracy; Detection; Intelligent transport systems (ITS); Level crossing; Sensor; Technology; Train; Vehicle; Vehicle detector
• ITRD Terms: 8122: USA
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01392391
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 23 2012 7:06AM