Highway-Rail Intersection GPS-Based In-Vehicle Warning Systems – Literature Review and Recommendations

Peck, Steven M; Bousquet, Paul E. · 2012 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development

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Summary

This report, commissioned by the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), addresses the persistent safety challenges at highway-rail intersections (HRIs), also known as grade crossings. In 2008, these intersections accounted for 2,395 incidents, 939 injuries, and 287 fatalities in the United States. While traditional mitigation strategies such as grade separation, crossing elimination, and active warning devices (gates, lights) are effective, they are often economically unfeasible for the majority of the nation’s 224,000 crossings, particularly the 70,769 public crossings equipped only with passive signs. The report investigates GPS-based in-vehicle warning systems as a cost-effective Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) alternative to enhance safety where infrastructure upgrades are not viable. The study employs a comprehensive literature review of past and current in-vehicle warning systems developed in the United States and internationally. It analyzes historical U.S. prototypes, including tests in Minnesota and Illinois, which relied on proprietary equipment and traditional track circuitry. These earlier systems were limited by their dependence on existing rail detection infrastructure and commercial power at crossings, preventing widespread deployment. The report also examines contemporary U.S. ITS initiatives like IntelliDriveSM and the Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance System (CICAS), assessing their potential adaptation for rail warnings. Furthermore, it details two advanced international systems: one by the French Rail Network (RFF), which provides GPS coordinates of crossings for public download, and a more developed prototype by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The Finnish system utilizes a client-server architecture combining GPS/Galileo positioning and GPRS cellular communication to track trains and warn vehicles without requiring wayside infrastructure at every crossing. The review finds that while early U.S. systems demonstrated user acceptance, they failed to achieve full deployment due to technological limitations and high costs. However, advancements in commercially available GPS technology and wireless communications have created a favorable environment for new systems. The Finnish prototype shows significant promise, addressing previous shortcomings by using a wireless network to track trains and alert drivers, thereby eliminating the need for costly wayside transmitters at each crossing. The French approach, while currently limited to providing location data for navigation devices, represents a step toward integrating crossing awareness into standard vehicle systems. The report concludes that current technology can meet the design goals of creating a reliable, cost-effective warning system that integrates with broader roadway safety initiatives. The significance of this work lies in its recommendation to leverage modern GPS and wireless technologies to develop viable in-vehicle warning systems. By shifting the burden of detection and warning from expensive, fixed infrastructure to mobile, commercially available devices, stakeholders can potentially improve safety at the thousands of crossings that lack active warnings. The report advocates for further development and testing of these GPS-based systems, highlighting their potential for multimodal integration and their ability to provide a scalable solution to highway-rail intersection safety challenges.

Key finding

Advances in commercially available GPS and wireless communication technologies have created a favorable environment for developing cost-effective, reliable in-vehicle warning systems that can enhance safety at highway-rail intersections where traditional improvements are not economically feasible.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Topics

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• rail grade crossings