Railway Crossing with a Difference

[whole diary]

[Bmblbzzz]

The cane railway's pivots sound like they need greasing!

[Bmblbzzz]

On a slightly different theme, here's an unusual shared bridge/level crossing in New Zealand:

https://youtu.be/sstRJcaFU9U

I've traversed that bridge - both on the train and in a 4x4 as part of a tour. The commentary on the train told us about it

I've been over a bridge like that in NZ but it wasn't the same one. I was in someone's car.

[stuving]

That just has so much OMG^▸ (Oh My doG ) on me. The interlocking and proving must be a nightmare - and the failure case in either direction is catastrophic. What are your views?

I'd be most bothered about proving in the up position, since the main-line trains as much faster - and carry people. It's not enough to detect the bit near he motor has rotated to the correct position, you also need to know the whole of the rest is still attached. Even small bits of metal dropped off onto the track would be scary. I can't see anything that does that - perhaps some photocell arrangement could do it, mostly at least.

[SandTEngineer]

That just has so much OMG^▸ (Oh My doG ) on me. The interlocking and proving must be a nightmare - and the failure case in either direction is catastrophic. What are your views?

I'd be most bothered about proving in the up position, since the main-line trains as much faster - and carry people. It's not enough to detect the bit near he motor has rotated to the correct position, you also need to know the whole of the rest is still attached. Even small bits of metal dropped off onto the track would be scary. I can't see anything that does that - perhaps some photocell arrangement could do it, mostly at least.

No different to the switch rails on a conventional set of points.  The tips are detected in the correct position but not the remainder of the switch rail unless its over a certain length (usually higher speed turnouts).

[JayMac]

Another very unusual level crossing. Seven lane highway crossed by freight trains. No lights, no barriers.

https://youtu.be/u4hed723pd8

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

And the rather scary idea of road and rail sharing the same tunnel - not side by side, but on the same trackbed.  Does the last car through carry a tail lamp, or is there axle-counting in and out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhbH-hVlHe4

Edit later re relevance to current topic – the road enters the tunnel from the right of the railway, and exits to the left, so my humble submission is that the road is crossing the railway and it is therefore a “railway crossing with a difference” (!)

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

That just has so much OMG^▸ (Oh My doG ) on me. The interlocking and proving must be a nightmare - and the failure case in either direction is catastrophic. What are your views?

I'd be most bothered about proving in the up position, since the main-line trains as much faster - and carry people. It's not enough to detect the bit near he motor has rotated to the correct position, you also need to know the whole of the rest is still attached. Even small bits of metal dropped off onto the track would be scary. I can't see anything that does that - perhaps some photocell arrangement could do it, mostly at least.

No different to the switch rails on a conventional set of points.  The tips are detected in the correct position but not the remainder of the switch rail unless its over a certain length (usually higher speed turnouts).

I think I'm more concerned about the lack of overlap on the cane railway signals protecting the crossing.  The trains look to be unbraked, and although sugar cane is light the trains are long.  I have this vision of a rainy day and the driver applying the loco brakes, the wheels pick up, and the train slides slowly past the signal....

[eightf48544]

Unfortunately New Zealand does have a number of crossing accidents, but typical Kiwi's they  tend to shrug them off.

[grahame]

Road and rail sharing is something we've come across before ... rather off topic from the origins of this thread though.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=20431.msg249578#msg249578

In this case, safety seem to have gone to the other extreme, with the shared section initially closed to road traffic any time a train was in the Strathcarron to Kyle of Lochalsh section - some 20 miles.

[SandTEngineer]

That just has so much OMG^▸ (Oh My doG ) on me. The interlocking and proving must be a nightmare - and the failure case in either direction is catastrophic. What are your views?

I'd be most bothered about proving in the up position, since the main-line trains as much faster - and carry people. It's not enough to detect the bit near he motor has rotated to the correct position, you also need to know the whole of the rest is still attached. Even small bits of metal dropped off onto the track would be scary. I can't see anything that does that - perhaps some photocell arrangement could do it, mostly at least.

No different to the switch rails on a conventional set of points.  The tips are detected in the correct position but not the remainder of the switch rail unless its over a certain length (usually higher speed turnouts).

I think I'm more concerned about the lack of overlap on the cane railway signals protecting the crossing.  The trains look to be unbraked, and although sugar cane is light the trains are long.  I have this vision of a rainy day and the driver applying the loco brakes, the wheels pick up, and the train slides slowly past the signal....

I think I said before that there appear to be catch points each side of the crossing on the Sugercane line.