LEVEL-CROSSING SAFETY ON EAST-JAPAN-RAILWAY-COMPANY - APPLICATION OF PROBABILISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

This paper describes the application of probabilistic risk assessment techniques to level crossing safety on JR East, the largest of the six private railroads in Japan. The risk of a level crossing accident was defined as the product of the accident rate and the expected conseque nces per accident. Rail traffic volume, road traffic volume, visibilit y of the crossing from the road, road gradient, width of the crossing and the type of safety devices at the crossing were shown to influence the accident rate and the collective risk. The mean accident rate at all crossings was 0.74 per million trains. The accident rate was 0.59 per million trains at crossings equipped with barriers, 1.25 at crossi ngs equipped with warning bells and 0.76 at pedestrian crossings. Cros sings equipped with obstacle detectors had a lower accident rate (0.12 per million trains) than crossings without detectors (0.43 per millio n trains). Crossings with visibility less than 20 m had a 50% higher m ean accident rate than crossings with visibility greater than 20 m. As the number of tracks increased, the accident rate monotonically incre ased due to the increased accident exposure. Risk assessment technique s were applied to determine the efficacy of the various level crossing safety devices. In addition to upgrading the safety of crossings, the management techniques stressed the importance of education campaigns in warning the public about the dangers of illegal crossings.