Method for analyzing accident risks at level crossings aiming to increase railway operational safety

Abstract

This article proposes a method for analyzing and solving accident risks at grade crossings in the Brazilian railroads. Thus, an analysis was carried out on national and international standards to identify the main criteria adopted for classifying the type of risk and for defining the type of signaling to be used, aiming to increase the safety of these grade crossings. Based on the analysis result, the proposed method was developed and applied to a railroad network in the southeastern region of the country. According to the historical data, one verifies that the implemented signaling works had positive results in safety (drop of 72% in the number of occurrences between 2014 and 2019), provided an increase in the maximum authorized speed on the railroad stretch, generating less impact in traffic (since the grade crossing is released more quickly), assuring gains for the operation and for the population that needs to transpose the railroad in these locations, reducing the noise emitted by traffic and the need for locomotives and wagons maintenance.