6:55: in a certain way, yes, but since the introduction of e-bells in The Netherlands, noise complaints have gone up significantly. And true, there are level crossings here that seem to try and blow your eardrums, that's how loud they are. And the worst is that those crossings are usually in the most quiet, rural areas. Apparently (I have never come across one so far) they are fitting crossings with dynamic e-bells now that listen to surrounding noise and also look for objects/people near the crossing. When there's no traffic or people and no background noise, the volume is lowered significantly. They also tried to adapt the sound itself, which (fortunately) didn't make it to all crossings, considering the hideous sound ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lgYNRs5r1E4.html
Absolutely agree with you. I live in Melbourne and we’ve had a huge safety shift in the rail authority’s attitude towards level crossings, following a build up number of fatalities involving both pedestrians and vehicles. It’s really about placing safety as of paramount importance rather than complying with residents amenity based objections. Excellent video.
I agree, our crossing bells are way too quiet. I used to live by a level crossing and enjoyed hearing them at night. For light amusement, I used to see if I could hear the train before the bells started sounding.
Sydney Trains has the same problem. Most crossings in my area have the same thing. Only Avondale Road (Dapto) and Princes Hwy level crossing has buttons. on my local line (The South Coast line) people always run in front of our H set trains, and drivers get anxious...
The gates are not there to stop people who are determined to cheat the system - those people will always find a way around. The gates are there to prevent people who aren't paying attention from inadvertently crossing while the tracks are active. Imagine you're walking along, listening to music, replying to a text message on your phone, and there were no gates. What's to stop you from walking in front of the train? This way, the gate shuts in front of you, putting a physical barrier between you and the train. If you choose to proceed anyway and open the emergency gate, that's a conscious desicion which may have consequences.
You could do what Australia does and just not have an exit gate so if you ignore the lights and get caught by the gate on the other side you get punished by having to wait anyway in the little cubby until the train has passed.
At some point you have to blame the person. What if they jump over the fence entirely. You have to design for safety, but at the end of the day if a teenager or adult breaks thru a magnet lock or hops the fence.... yeah it's their fault.
I noticed Victoria used to use pedestrian booms but now use the proper gates (but now they are grade separating most of the stations anyway) 4:55 I think they still have the function of acting like a fire exit or in case the crossing freezes
Heres the funny thing about the noise of level crossing bells, I knew someone that lived right next to a level crossing with m-bells, And that level crossing didn't have a bells off setting. I can tell you because i stayed there a few times that after a while you get so use to the sound of the bells that you don't hear them anymore!!! As a trainspotter that annoyed me lol. It's not the first time that i have spoken to people that live near the railway for them to tell me that they get use to the noise. So if that is the case, Then why do they even need them to be put on a quite setting?? For one or two people that have nothing to do but complain...Stupid!!! Also i hope Kiwirail will put magnetic locks on our emergency gates soon!!!
I live fairly close to Wellington Airport, and it's the same with planes - you just get used to them and don't notice the noise they make landing and taking off (although they do tend to have quieter engines and hushkits nowadays). However, I used to live in Linden and heard the trains regularly (though was far enough away from level crossings not to hear them). But they never disturbed me, just like the planes don't bother me now. As for level crossing bells, I rather like the sound they make. It's kind of the music of the railway.
It's all very well to say that if someone chooses to abuse the system then it's their fault so you get off scot-free from choosing not to use the safer option, but there's still a train driver that has to live with the fact that somebody died at his or her hand. Some drivers can be so traumatized by this that they experience severe PTSD and can't face getting back into a train cab again. Imagine if you've spent your entire life dreaming about becoming a train driver only to have to pack your job in 2 weeks in because your employer didn't want to fork out for the magnetic lock system that already exists and works in other parts of the country. The new Carmen Road crossing they set up down here has the same problem, no locks on the emergency exit gates. Even if they had a sensor pad so the gate is locked unless someone is standing on the pad which is of course on the inside of the gate that would be fine, but instead they just have a "no entry" sign because surely someone wouldn't disobey the sign even though they were already planning to disobey the alarms.
At some stage, surely people have to take responsibility for themselves? Are you saying KiwiRail should have a system to save people that deliberately open a gate with a massive “no entry” sign on it and cross in front of a train? In many ways installing these gates at all is dangerous as only a few crossings have them? What about the thousands of others that do t have them where people have to, I don’t know, watch out for trains and stay clear?
We have gates here in Australia, SA and have noticed the same about the emergency exit gates, not sure if what you explained has been considered here as I haven't crossed through one in years but I noticed that you could actually easily open those old gates and realised that all anyone would be doing would be by opening this gates is risking themselves, also I agree with you about the bells, the person living in the house next to or anywhere near a crossing should be mindful of them
Why can't people just read and follow a sign? What's next, getting mad there's no physical barriers at a stop sign? It clearly states that it's an emergency exit so people shouldn't be dumb and use it as it's intended.
Very good video and you have brought up a very good point. I'm from Auckland and as you say we do have fully locking pedestrian gates with emergency exit buttons, but only at major road crossings and stations, but as i have noticed they are not high enough and any agile person can just jump over and cross which i have seen many people do. I agree with what you say, if Auckland has them then why can't they be installed at all major crossings around the country. With the bells then yeah if you choose to live next to a crossing then too bad about the noise of the bells, i know in the United States the loco drivers stand on the horn until they have passed the crossing so i think we have it easy over here. One thing that gets on my nerves with the Auckland crossings at stations is the lack of attention from the platform security guards as iv'e seen pedestrians cross illegally and they just turn a blind eye, i call them the mobile phone police because they are always on their phones and doing nothing else, but as soon as you pull out a camera to take a photo of a train then they are all over you. It's the same with some of the train security guards, most of them turn a blind eye when trouble is about to start or they just walk away. I recall catching the train from Britomart to Papatoetoe late one afternoon and there was only a handful of passengers on the train and there was a rather pretty indian lady sitting not to far from me and i noticed a dodgy looking guy was eyeing her up and i could see that she was getting a bit nervous and then she moved and so did this guy but sat down a few seats away from her. A guard walked past and i think she mentioned it but the guard did nothing, so i got up and sat in the seat across from her and gave her a smile i said "good afternoon" and i could see that she started to settle down. If i hadn't of gotten up and made my presence felt to her and this dodgy guy then i would hate to think what this guy could have done. Anyway happy train spotting.
The problem is people don't know how to be aware of their surroundings while texting away, listening to music and in many cases when driving across a line while the bells are going. KR shouldn't even need gates for pedestrian crossings. Anyone stupid enough to walk or drive across a line without looking for trains should be left for natural selection to take care of... I volunteer at a heritage railway here in NZ and drive one of the locos there from time to time and a month ago I had a car try to beat me seconds before I was at the crossing while the bells were going and they chickened out halfway through which resulted in them stopping in the middle of the line. They were very lucky that I applied the locos brake before they even went onto the crossing and I was going slower than the lines speed limit which made all the difference. If it was not just the single loco and instead had a wagon on or the carriages behind it, it would have been hit without a doubt because by the time the loco stopped we were only around 10ish meters from the car.
The reason why they don’t have any push button release is for people in wheelchairs. Not everyone can operate a push button. So they are designed to be pushed open by a wheelchair in an emergency
All three recently upgraded crossings on the Hutt Valley Line have push-button releases (Trentham, Wallaceville and Upper Hutt). I'm currently editing videos of those crossings as I type this.
The problem here is you can't always factor for stupidness. How far do you go? If the lights are flashing and the bells are sounding and people still choose to ignore them... The alarms are not (at least in the UK) meant for vehicles but pedestrians. Once again, if people are ignorant of the fact they are crossing a railway and choose to ignore the warnings over their music, why should all the residents have to suffer to try to protect them? When my local level crossing was upgraded a few years back, they had the Yodalarms on full volume. I live a fair distance from the crossing but I could hear them at night! Of course people closer complained so the volume was reduced. Yodalarms also have the benefit of night mode that makes them quieter at night if the crossing is configured this way. I get what you are saying but you need a balance of doing enough to protect people and common sense. Sadly common sense in people is becoming less and less these days. I think what has been done at this crossing is more than adequate to make it safer. People need to take more responsibility for themselves.
You can never account for stupidity. But you can always do more to try and prevent it. It doesn't matter what caused an accident, there will always be a lingering question over what could have been done to make it preventable. There's never necessarily one cause to an action, and stupidity might not be a root cause. If somebody jumps the crossing, one might ask what factors allowed them to do that in the first place. The best way to combat stupidity is to stop it from being possible in the first place.
My main argument here is not just that the gates are flawed, but that (A) Technology to fix the problem exists, but is deliberately not being used, (B) KiwiRail's protcol's for installing the gates alert's people to the existence of the emergency exit and encourages their use, (C) The bells are being put on a setting in which people not paying attention cannot hear them. It's also worth bearing in mind that this section of track has four crossing sin close proximity to six schools, so these crossings have huge child usage....they usually have the least amount of common sense and spatial awareness.
@@the_alex_ellis_channel6923 I get where you're coming from as it could be made even safer with the maglocks. They must have done a risk assessment (or a cost assessment) and decided that for whatever reason they're not required. I don't think the emergency exit is promoting abuse but it is bound to and will be abused with people being impatient. People need to understand not to ignore the warnings, you could have the e-bells on full volume but there will still be those few that will ignore them and misuse the crossing. The residents living nearby shouldn't have to suffer for that. Other than wrapping everyone in cotton wool there is only so much you can do to protect people from themselves!
Hear Hear Alex! One has to wonder why KR couldn't bother installing magnetic locks down here... Regarding the E-Bells and their quiet volume, KR have also said that the old "Bells off" method doesn't comply with international best practise. Obviously the US hasn't got the memo on that one, as they still have half gate installations with bells off during the day! Australia is slightly different with their system disabling half the bells installed at the crossing once the gates have gone down, with the exception of any pedestrian ones from what i've seen. I will say that for those living near previously unprotected level crossings that have been upgraded, such as the one Nth of Epuni Station, I could understand the resident's frustration of the bells, since they haven't had a protected crossing before, but safety is definitely a priority. However, I would consider a "Bells Off" setting on certain pedestrian level crossings between the hours of 10pm and 6-7am, only if the traffic that it receives between those hours are extremely low, and that additional lighting, e.g: ground mounted warning lights like at Linden Stn, will be installed. I personally wouldn't bother with any emergency exit gate if they continue to be installed in this state, as there is enough of a refuge for a few people to wait until the crossing has cleared and deactivated. On the other hand, if something were to happen, an inquiry would probably ask why there was no gate installed, so that would put my idea between a rock and a hard place!
I would still have the exit gate, but fit the magnetic locks & release buttons to them. I get what you mean regarding pedestrian level crossing's that have been upgraded, that does pose an issue I suppose.
@@the_alex_ellis_channel6923 the magnetic locks are a very efficient thing to have but KR should not have to waste their money installing them on account of people abusing the normal ones
I beat that New Zealand Railways (or any railway in the world) would spend thousands on Health & Safety officers at track re-laying sites along the railway or at the building site of a new station. They would also spend thousands (even millions) on keeping the head people of the railway in big money rather than help save peoples lives and make the railway safer. That's the sad reality we have to live with. I 100% agree with what you are saying. Level crossings have to be a lot safer than what they are.
