Devising a method for improving pedestrian traffic safety when crossing railroad tracks by implementing an information system with a fixed warning time

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2024.300168

Keywords:

traffic safety, pedestrian crossings, information system, railroad track, rolling stock, fixed warning time

Abstract

The object of research is pedestrian safety when crossing railroad tracks at pedestrian crossings. A method for improving the safety of pedestrian traffic when crossing railroad tracks within the area approaching the railroad pedestrian crossing has been developed, by introducing an information system for warning pedestrians about train movement with a fixed warning time.

Experimental measurements of the speed of the rolling stock were carried out in the area approaching the pedestrian crossing over the railroad track. With the mixed movement of trains, it was found that the lowest speed of the train was 67.46 km/h, and the highest was the passenger train – 131.9 km/h. At the same time, the speed of freight trains ranged from 74 to 79 km/h. Such data are needed to determine the speed of the rolling stock on the approach to the crossing or transition, which will allow the light and sound signal to be turned on in time when the movement of a pedestrian across the track will be dangerous.

The methodology for calculating the length of the approach section to the pedestrian crossing, depending on the speed of the rolling stock, has been given. It was established that the speed of the rolling stock has a significant effect on the length of the approach section. At the lowest measured speed of the train – 67.46 km/h, the length of the approach section was 317.46 m, and when the passenger train was moving at a speed of 131.9 km/h – 620.68 m.

For a single-track section of the railroad, a fixed time has been established for warning pedestrians about the approach of a train to the crossing. It is a constant value that is included in the warning information system on a single-track section, and after it, a complex light and sound alarm with an information board is activated, which will warn the pedestrian about the movement of the train. The method for improving the safety of pedestrian traffic with a fixed time of the pedestrian’s anticipation of the train movement could be used at crossings with pedestrian traffic, as a supplement to the crossing signaling subsystem in railroad transport. It can also be used at equipped pedestrian crossings over railroad tracks in urbanized areas. The advantage of introducing such a method is a fixed time to warn the pedestrian, in each specific case of the train approaching the crossing

Author Biographies

Vitalii Kovalchuk, Lviv Polytechnic National University

Doctor of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor

Department of Railway Transport

Yulia Lesiv, Lviv Polytechnic National University

Postgraduate Student, Assistant

Department of Transport Technologies

References

  1. Informatsiia pro rezonansni DTP, avariyi, katastrofy u 2023 rotsi. Derzhavna sluzhba Ukrainy iz bezpeky na transporti. Available at: https://old.dsbt.gov.ua/uk/storinka/informaciya-pro-rezonansni-dtp-avariyi-katastrofy-u-2023-roci
  2. Vivek, A. K., Mohapatra, S. S. (2023). An observational study on pedestrian and bicyclist violations at railroad grade crossings: Exploring the impact of geometrical and operational attributes. Journal of Safety Research, 87, 395–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.08.011
  3. Zhang, M., Khattak, A. J., Liu, J., Clarke, D. (2018). A comparative study of rail-pedestrian trespassing crash injury severity between highway-rail grade crossings and non-crossings. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 117, 427–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2018.02.001
  4. Freeman, J., Rakotonirainy, A., Stefanova, T., McMaster, M. (2013). Understanding pedestrian behaviour at railway level crossings: Is there a need for more research? Road & TransportResearch, 22 (3), 29–39. Available at: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/220081/1/63688.pdf
  5. Freeman, J., Rakotonirainy, A. (2015). Mistakes or deliberate violations? A study into the origins of rule breaking at pedestrian train crossings. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 77, 45–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2015.01.015
  6. Larue, G. S., Watling, C. N. (2022). Prevalence and dynamics of distracted pedestrian behaviour at railway level crossings: Emerging issues. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 165, 106508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2021.106508
  7. Read, G. J. M., Salmon, P. M., Lenné, M. G., Stanton, N. A. (2016). Walking the line: Understanding pedestrian behaviour and risk at rail level crossings with cognitive work analysis. Applied Ergonomics, 53, 209–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.10.004
  8. Lobb, B. (2006). Trespassing on the tracks: A review of railway pedestrian safety research. Journal of Safety Research, 37 (4), 359–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2006.04.005
  9. Lobb, B., Harré, N., Terry, N. (2003). An evaluation of four types of railway pedestrian crossing safety intervention. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 35 (4), 487–494. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0001-4575(02)00026-x
  10. Larue, G. S., Watling, C. N., Black, A., Wood, J. M. (2021). Improving the safety of distracted pedestrians with in-ground flashing lights. A railway crossing field study. Journal of Safety Research, 77, 170–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2021.02.014
  11. Zhang, J., Liu, F., Chen, Z., Yu, Z., Xiao, X., Shi, L., Guo, Z. (2023). A multi-level analysis on the causes of train-pedestrian collisions in Southwest China 2011–2020. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 193, 107332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2023.107332
  12. Keramati, A., Lu, P., Ren, Y., Tolliver, D., Ai, C. (2021). Investigating the effectiveness of safety countermeasures at highway-rail at-grade crossings using a competing risk model. Journal of Safety Research, 78, 251–261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2021.04.008
  13. Aupetit, S., Escaich, S., Gillet, C., Herber, P., Grison, E., Morgagni, S. (2023). Virtual reality study of the effects of railway crossing safety technologies on pedestrian behaviour. Transportation Research Procedia, 72, 1264–1271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2023.11.586
  14. Ahmed, J., Robinson, A., Miller, E. E. (2024). Effectiveness of signs for pedestrian-railroad crossings: Colors, shapes, and messaging strategies. Journal of Safety Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2024.01.003
  15. Santander-Mercado, A., Amaya-Mier, R., Castaño-Campo, L., Jubiz-Diaz, M. (2024). An optimisation model to locate level crossings in railway lines at mines to minimise the total weighted-walked distance. IATSS Research, 48 (1), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iatssr.2024.01.003
  16. Vozniak, O. M., Havryliuk, V. I. (2019). Zabezpechennia bezpeky rukhu na zaliznychnykh pereizdakh. Dnipro, 282. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311321045_Zabezpecenna_bezpeki_ruhu_na_zaliznicnih_pereizdah
  17. Ľupták, V., Čarný, Š. (2024). Rationalization of Selected Crossing Security Devices on Czech Railways Line 201 Tábor – Ražice. Transportation Research Procedia, 77, 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2024.01.023
  18. Starčević, M., Barić, D., Broz, I. (2021). Increasing level crossing safety in urban areas - Case study City of Zagreb. Road and Rail Infrastructure VI. https://doi.org/10.5592/co/cetra.2020.1030
  19. Sysyn, M., Nabochenko, O., Kluge, F. et al. (2019). Common crossing structural health analysis with track-side monitoring. Communications, 21 (3), 77–84. Available at: http://eadnurt.diit.edu.ua/bitstream/123456789/11832/1/Sysyn.pdf
  20. Sysyn, M., Gerber, U., Nabochenko, O., Kovalchuk, V. (2019). Common crossing fault prediction with track based inertial measurements: statistical vs. mechanical approach. Pollack Periodica, 14 (2), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1556/606.2019.14.2.2
  21. Jamshidi, A., Hajizadeh, S., Su, Z., Naeimi, M., Núñez, A., Dollevoet, R. et al. (2018). A decision support approach for condition-based maintenance of rails based on big data analysis. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 95, 185–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2018.07.007
  22. Sysyn, M., Nabochenko, O., Gerber, U., Kovalchuk, V., Petrenko, O. (2019). Common crossing condition monitoring with on board inertial measurements. Acta Polytechnica, 59 (4), 423–434. https://doi.org/10.14311/ap.2019.59.0423
  23. Sysyn, M., Gruen, D., Gerber, U., Nabochenko, O., Kovalchuk, V. (2019). Turnout Monitoring with Vehicle Based Inertial Measurements of Operational Trains: A Machine Learning Approach. Communications - Scientific Letters of the University of Zilina, 21 (1), 42–48. https://doi.org/10.26552/com.c.2019.1.42-48
Devising a method for improving pedestrian traffic safety when crossing railroad tracks by implementing an information system with a fixed warning time

Downloads

Published

2024-04-30

How to Cite

Kovalchuk, V., & Lesiv, Y. (2024). Devising a method for improving pedestrian traffic safety when crossing railroad tracks by implementing an information system with a fixed warning time. Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, 2(3 (128), 50–59. https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2024.300168

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 3 (128) (2024): Control processes

Section

Control processes

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Vitalii Kovalchuk, Yulia Lesiv

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The consolidation and conditions for the transfer of copyright (identification of authorship) is carried out in the License Agreement. In particular, the authors reserve the right to the authorship of their manuscript and transfer the first publication of this work to the journal under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license. At the same time, they have the right to conclude on their own additional agreements concerning the non-exclusive distribution of the work in the form in which it was published by this journal, but provided that the link to the first publication of the article in this journal is preserved.

A license agreement is a document in which the author warrants that he/she owns all copyright for the work (manuscript, article, etc.).
The authors, signing the License Agreement with TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC, have all rights to the further use of their work, provided that they link to our edition in which the work was published.
According to the terms of the License Agreement, the Publisher TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC does not take away your copyrights and receives permission from the authors to use and dissemination of the publication through the world's scientific resources (own electronic resources, scientometric databases, repositories, libraries, etc.).
In the absence of a signed License Agreement or in the absence of this agreement of identifiers allowing to identify the identity of the author, the editors have no right to work with the manuscript.
It is important to remember that there is another type of agreement between authors and publishers – when copyright is transferred from the authors to the publisher. In this case, the authors lose ownership of their work and may not use it in any way.