Dangers on the Railway Crossing

[JR 500系]

Watch the video that reveals how human behaviour and overly packed railway time tables caused dangers along an at-grade railway crossing...

 

 

[lighthouse]

It's seems the whole world is in trouble because of time 🤔

[disturbman]

That Tobu crossing really doesn’t open very long, and it’s right next to a station. Makes for a bad combo with a quickly aging population.

[Tony Galiani]

I also wonder if the long amount of time the gates are down before a train arrives makes people jaded about the warning.  I sometimes watch The Dramatic channel on youtube - have it on now and it is tomorrow (for me) in Japan and bright and sunny - and there is the parade of early morning trains.  I've noticed this before and just double checked it again and the gates go down about a minute before a train arrives.

Ciao,

Tony

[Kamome]

There’s a particularly nasty crossing near me in northern Kyushu. It crosses 3 tracks of Kagoshima mainline and 2 freight lines so you have to cross 5 tracks together.

 

I have had the barrier come down on top of my car, thankfully no incident or damage. The issue is after one train has gone through and the crossing lights and barrier have cleared, if another activates it does not allow fair warning from the lights before the barriers start coming down again. I was in the middle of the crossing when the lights came back on so had to floor it to get over quick , with the barrier tapping the back of my car. 

 

Seems like an accident waiting to happen. 

[JR 500系]

Here's another video.. 

 

 

The timing for crossing the railway crossing is sometimes WAY too short, like even less than a few seconds after the gate opens the buzzer starts ringing again. It's near impossible to get through, especially for the eldery folks with mobility issues. This also cause people to avoid having to get caught and wait at crossings, which almost encourages people to dash through dangerously, like the ones we see in the video... 

 

It's a concerning issue especially when Japan is facing an ageing population... Would overhead bridges solve some of these dangers? Perhaps an sheltered overhead bridge with lifts at the ends might solve this issue permenantly, but the issue with the vehicles will still be around...  

[JR East]

3 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

Would overhead bridges solve some of these dangers? Perhaps an sheltered overhead bridge with lifts at the ends might solve this issue permenantly, but the issue with the vehicles will still be around...  

 

Ageing population & overhead brigdes ... not sure it's the perfect match. Steps, when you're old, it's never easy.  

[railsquid]

The preferred solution is to separate railway and road, these days mostly by raising the railway or putting it in a tunnel, which neatly removes the conflict. Any new infrastructure (at least from my observations from the infrastructure I personally encounter) is built with accessibility in mind, so any stations on the "new" line will be fully equipped with elevators etc.

 

There are certainly also pedestrian bridges built with elevators where there's no other option, here an example crossing the Seibu Ikebukuro line, where a major new road crosses a section of line (which is unlikely to be elevated) in a tunnel, with non-road users (including cyclists) forced over a bridge: https://goo.gl/maps/p9bWToae7vgoskHW9

[katem]

Can Schmid Peoplemover or similar design find its use in Japan, given its strengths of no walking required and not much space needed for bases? It probably lacks a required throughput for most places though. However it might work in tandem with a busy railway crossing such as the one above to provide the missing safety for elderly and disabled people.

[Kamome]

Even collisions with Japanese elderly residents on roads are becoming more frequent as some are reluctant to walk to pedestrian crossings. I see many elderly people crossing 6 lane main roads despite their being plenty of crossings, just not necessarily where they are standing. 
 

A few days ago a much respected comedian, Koki Nakamoto, died while crossing a road in Yokohama.

[cteno4]

21 hours ago, katem said:

Can Schmid Peoplemover or similar design find its use in Japan, given its strengths of no walking required and not much space needed for bases? It probably lacks a required throughput for most places though. However it might work in tandem with a busy railway crossing such as the one above to provide the missing safety for elderly and disabled people.

Very cool. Neat idea of being prefab construction for quick and easy installation. Stairs and walkway could easy go off once side if desired as well.

 

jeff