Better notification of blocked manually operated LCs

In a real situation, pressing the clear button will always work, the downside being you might have just wiped out the car that was blocking the crossing. The subsequent message will be highlighted with numerous flashing blue lights.

" said:

I have to admit I was still confused by what was said in the earlier thread, particularly as "Crossing blocked by road vehicle" seems to be a message specific to the Exeter sim.

The 'crossing blocked' is not specific to any simulation, all the developer can do is alter the probability of its occurrence, or disable it.

Quote:

Why is all of this necessary when there is an immediately obvious warning that the crossing is blocked because the "clear" roundel continues to flash after the operator tries to acknowledge it?

In any similar situation, when one presses a real button or clicks one on a screen and nothing happens, why isn't it always immediately obvious what the cause is and what to do to to fix it? I'm always in favour of reducing FUD as much as possible.

For those of us (including me) who add sound files to some of the messages (F3 > Options > General > Event settings), I see there is one for Level crossing cleared but not one for Level crossing blocked. May I request that this be added to the list?

(b) the user is told to check the Messages board each time he clicks for the presence of a "Crossing blocked" message which might even be offscreen by now if Messages is reduced to three lines.

In real life how often are crossings actually "blocked"?

As I see it there are three options.

1) Crossings are rarely blocked and the CCTV system is just another example of health and safety gone wild.
2) Crossings are frequently blocked because British motorists are disposed to stop their vehicles on level crossings,
3) Doesn't matter, this is a full employment policy for signalmen (seeing how much direct attention this requires in SimSig).

I suggest half barriers combined with louder train horns. ;)

In real life how often are crossings actually "blocked"?

As I see it there are three options.

1) Crossings are rarely blocked and the CCTV system is just another example of health and safety gone wild.
2) Crossings are frequently blocked because British motorists are disposed to stop their vehicles on level crossings,
3) Doesn't matter, this is a full employment policy for signalmen (seeing how much direct attention this requires in SimSig).

I suggest half barriers combined with louder train horns. ;)

In real life how often are crossings actually "blocked"?

As I see it there are three options.

1) Crossings are rarely blocked and the CCTV system is just another example of health and safety gone wild.
2) Crossings are frequently blocked because British motorists are disposed to stop their vehicles on level crossings,
3) Doesn't matter, this is a full employment policy for signalmen (seeing how much direct attention this requires in SimSig).

I suggest half barriers combined with louder train horns. ;)

Oh, Jersey_Mike, I'll never tire of you claiming that UK safety systems and training are inadequate and don't prevent enough accidents, and then claiming that we pay too much attention to safety!

It's almost like US and UK railways run very different trains with very different traffic patterns on very different routes with very different histories...

But yeah, as has been mentioned, many CCTV crossings are now being replaced by Obstacle Detection systems.

How much signaller intervention do OD crossings require? Are they able to operate totally autonomously (obviously when not broken) or do they still require manual lowering of the barriers, clearing, etc.?

Based on all the problems I've heard about MCB-OD crossings, would it have been better to keep the CCTV cameras and monitors but only have them used by signallers when the OD system fails (ie has a false positive)?

" said:

In real life how often are crossings actually "blocked"?

As I see it there are three options.

1) Crossings are rarely blocked and the CCTV system is just another example of health and safety gone wild.
2) Crossings are frequently blocked because British motorists are disposed to stop their vehicles on level crossings,
3) Doesn't matter, this is a full employment policy for signalmen (seeing how much direct attention this requires in SimSig).

I suggest half barriers combined with louder train horns. ;)

How often are half-barrier crossings obstructed by road traffic over there? They seem to be quite commonly provided immediately adjacent to busy road junctions (sorry, intersections?!) and, even with 'hurry' control linked into the traffic signals on the latter, my perception is that nasty collisions aren't exactly unusual.

My understanding is that, in normal operation, OD crossings operate entirely without operator intervention. I have an idea cameras are provided so the operator can check whether a persistent problem is an equipment failure or a vehicle on the crossing, but that these cameras are more like a webcam than the high-spec directly connected duplicate cameras of a standard CCTV crossing. I suspect also that, even if the camera seems to indicate the crossing is clear, trains would have to be cautioned - there is no 'crossing clear' button to release the signals.

From a signaller's point of view the best indication of trouble ahead would be an automatic scanning of the crossing and automatic signal and block the Clear, preventing a route from being set, should there be the slightest hint of impending trouble.

From an Australian perspective, even while there are boom (full or half-boom) gates, not just flashing lights and railway crossing warning signals, there will always be IDIOTS in the form of pedestrians or drivers who will try to run them or just plain fail to see them (listening to iPhones, car radios, texting, etc.). There have been endless statistical surveys and public information bulletins (some of the better ones listed below) but still they keep coming and getting themselves killed, at no small emotional cost to those close to them.

My only hope is that (a) all mobile communication devices will some day carry an audible, visible alarm keyed to some RF transmitter installed at each LC, and even satellite navigation devices will incorporate them. That won't cure those who walk or drive without them, nor will it absolve signallers from checking LCs, particularly those with half-booms where drivers try to race around them.

My other thought is to have a large prominent picture of Death, scythe and all, just as we used to have in the early AIDS campaign, mounted at LCs, or at least a skull and crossbones. That might wake some of them up in time. (PS - all our trams and tram stops carry prominent posters of a rhino on a skateboard, indicating what you are up against if you try to beat a tram, some having the mass of 30 rhinos!)

From a signaller's point of view the best indication of trouble ahead would be an automatic scanning of the crossing and automatic signal and block the Clear, preventing a route from being set, should there be the slightest hint of impending trouble.

The 2012 Dandenong and 2007 Kerang crashes in Victoria show what can happen when trains and trucks collide.

Firstly, let's get to know our railway crossings... - V/Line

LEVEL CROSSINGS - John Holland

Parliament in its wisdom has decreed that, however culpable, the motorist should not be exposed to significant danger of death as a result. The CCTV level crossing is the inevitable result; just think how many more staff were needed in the days when every crossing had to be manned.

BTW nobody actually answered my question about how often a signaler has to deal with a blocked crossing. It's clear that it happens with some frequency in SimSig, but I always get the feeling that SimSig has a much higher default "failure" rate than real life because failures make the game more fun/challenging. I actually don't know if motorists are chronically blocking crossings or regulators just want to be better safe than sorry.

BTW nobody actually answered my question about how often a signaler has to deal with a blocked crossing.

UK policy is that, among other requirements, an AHB can't be used where there is a non-trivial possibility of road traffic backing up over it. Thus they can't be placed near traffic lights or a T-junction on the road that actually crosses. Where there is such a possibility, the crossing must be supervised and linked into the signalling system - CCTV is one way of doing this.

MCB-OD crossings are supposed to work without any signaller intervention unless an alarm is generated ("OD FAILED", "OBSTRUCTION", whatever). I'm afraid your suggestion that the signaller is provided with a camera is incorrect but your confusion may have arisen from the trial site at Filey which had OD technology overlaid on an existing CCTV crossing. At a standard MCB-OD crossing the signaller has controls to manually raise and lower the barriers but has no means of viewing the crossing or way of determining whether or not it is obstructed. There are two different types of Local Control by staff physically located the crossing - full manual operation as with a conventional MCB and 'CCU mode' where barriers work automatically but the attendant is required to observe the crossing and give the crossing clear indication to the interlocking manually. No signaller intervention is required in this mode, which significantly reduces workload during times of degraded operation. There are cameras at the crossing itself but these are provided only to record incidents of abuse for prosecution, which they report automatically, and do not have a live feed capability.