is there any standard closure time of level crossing in railway technology?

Question

At level crossing,road traffic has to wait to get pass the train.Its closure time i.e.closing of barrier and opening the barrier is really very frustrating for road traffic due to more than a century old practice of giving precedence to rail traffic over road traffic.

During last 2-3 decades,road technology has been far more improved as compared to railway technology(with exception of maglev trains).

Although TVU has been one of measure of traffic crossing at level crossing(without considering closure time with the exception of Japan which considers closure time also).

Still there seems to be no uniform opinion over the standard closure time of level crossing under normal conditions to pass one train.

closure time means--interval between closing and opening of level crossing gate rather than mechanical time required to close,open the gate .

Answer 1

Early level crossings had a flagman in a nearby booth who would, on the approach of a train, wave a red flag or lantern to stop all traffic and clear the tracks. Manual or electrical closable gates that barricaded the roadway were later introduced. The gates were intended to be a complete barrier against intrusion of any road traffic onto the railway. In the early days of the railways much road traffic was horsedrawn or included livestock. It was thus necessary to provide a real barrier. The first U.S. patent for such crossing gates was awarded on August 27, 1867, to J. Nason and J. F. Wilson, both of Boston, Massachusetts.[1]

With the appearance of motor vehicles, this barrier became less and less effective and the need for a barrier to livestock diminished dramatically. Many countries therefore substituted the gated crossings with less strong but highly visible barriers and relied upon road users following the associated warning signals to stop.

In many countries, level crossings on less important roads and railway lines are often "open" or "uncontrolled", sometimes with warning lights or bells to warn of approaching trains. Ungated crossings represent a safety issue; many accidents have occurred due to failure to notice or obey the warning. Railways in the United States are adding reflectors to the side of each train car to help prevent accidents at level crossings. In some countries, such as Ireland, instead of an open crossing there may be manually operated gates, which the motorist must open and close. These too have significant risks, as they are unsafe to use without possessing a knowledge of the train timetable: motorists may be instructed to telephone the railway signaller, but may not always do so.

The consensus in contemporary railway design is to avoid the use of level crossings. The director of rail safety at the UK Railway Inspectorate commented in 2004 that "the use of level crossings contributes the greatest potential for catastrophic risk on the railways." Eighteen people were killed in the UK on level crossings in 2003-4. Bridges and tunnels are now favoured, but this can be impractical in flat countryside where there is insufficient space to build a roadway embankment or tunnel (because of nearby buildings).

At railway stations a pedestrian level crossing is sometimes provided to allow passengers to reach other platforms in the absence of an underpass or bridge.

Where third rail systems have level crossings, there is a gap in the third rail over the level crossing, but the power supply is not interrupted since trains have current collectors on multiple cars.

Answer 2

I think the key thing to remember is that the closure time cannot be reduced below a certain minimum. Even if the gate across the road could be made to close much faster, it should not be, because motorists need time to react to the fact that the gate is closing. So if the gate itself closed very quickly, there would need to be some other kind of signal, like a flashing light, that would serve to stop motorists from being in the midst of the crossing during the closure, and that would extend the closure time just the same as if the gate had actually taken that long to mechanically close.

Answer 3

Yes, its a genuine issue but still tobe tackles scientifically in India. Actually can be tackled in two ways:
1. Timer based system where the time to close the gate at cossings be based on safe time setting. this should be time required to close the gate and a safety margin based on max. trafic speed.
2. Under pass or over pass at each crossing doing away with requirement of closing the gate at the Rly crossings.

The solution has to be a combination of both.