The Failed Dream of the Easy Commute (opens in new tab)

There's a solution available to prevent railroad crossing accidents, but it requires blocking the highway for much longer.[1] This is a fully interlocked grade crossing. There are gates on both sides of the tracks, vehicle detectors for cars on the tracks, and interlocking with the railroad signals. As a train approaches, first the bells and lights come on. Then the entrance side gates go down. The control system checks that there are no vehicles on the crossing; there are traffic detectors and radars for this. Only then do the exit side gates go down. When all gates are fully down, and the crossing is clear of vehicles, the train gets a clear signal. If there's an obstruction or a damaged gate, the train will slow and stop if necessary.

This requires that the gates go down about a minute before the train arrives, because the stopping distance for trains is so large. Drivers hate that. Railroads aren't too happy with it either, because they're going to have to stop trains when someone is still on the crossing a minute before the train gets there. Current FRA rules are that such a setup will be required for grade crossings with trains operating above 110 MPH. Only the Northeast Corridor has such speeds.

There's been one accident at the US at a fully interlocked gate. A car went through a lowered gate into the path of an Acela high speed train.[2] Barrier gates capable of stopping a truck are being considered.

[1] http://www.ansaldo-sts.com/sites/ansaldosts.message-asp.com/...

[2] [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/nyregion/30acela.html]