Selby, United Kingdom: First commercial robot eye in service

Yorkshire based safety specialists MRL Ltd has launched their robot eye service to customers across Great Britain. The German built micro-unmanned aeriel vehicle (micro-UAV) is the first commercially available micro-UAV in the United Kingdom although a number are already in use with military organisations and the police.

The eye-in-the-sky service offered by MRL is fully licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority and is available on a long-term contract or spot hire basis.

MRL believes that their micro-UAV carrying a variety of imaging equipment can be used for surveying tasks large and small, particularly where access is restricted. For example, the micro-UAV could be used when considering the design of new and upgraded highway-rail intersections or when investigating accidents where aerial images are required, but at substantially lower cost than using a helicopter as is usual these days.

MRL offer a round the clock service and are able to deploy their micro-UAV and all associated equipment quickly, with access to site times restricted only by highway speed limits.

John King MRL Eye project manager said “the UAV is an amazing piece of kit, it is so versatile and responsive” adding, that it “can give an unusual birds-eye view to put a location into perspective in its setting”.

The MRL micro-UAV is licensed in the UK to operate at heights of upto 450’ above ground and at a radius of 1,500 metres from the point of control. A single battery charge gives the eye-in-the-sky an endurance of 30 minutes at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. The micro-UAV which measures less than a metre across is near-silent when in operation.

Full details of the MRL Eye service can be obtained at
www.mrl-limited.co.uk/mrl-eye or from Judy Jackson, the company’s managing director at judy@mrl-limited.co.uk

Toronto, Ontario: GO moves from incandescent to LED

Commuter rail agency GO Transit has begun a campaign to upgrade the traffic signals at the 90 level crossings for which it is responsible. The programme provides for all remaining eight inch diameter incancescent lamps to be replaced with 12 inch diameter LED units which motorists will find easier to see.

The change in traffic signal lamps is the latest in a string of upgrades across the GO Transit level crossing inventory which saw crossings with lesser protection upgraded to a lights, bells and barrier configuration between 2004 and 2007. Subsequently some crossings have been further upgraded with installation of constant warning time predictor technology, solid-state control units and event recorders.

(April 26th, 2010)

Pinnacle, North Carolina: Solar-powered level crossing signals

The Rail Division of North Carolina’s Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has funded the installation of the state’s first solar-powered level crossing controls. The system which has been developed and installed by Kentucky based C & S Signalling is the first of its type in North Carolina. The solar-powered controls have been installed at the Surry Line Road level crossing ion the Yadkin Valley Railroad in Pinnacle, Stokes County.

The C & S Signalling installation uses solar panels to recharge batteries which have a capacity to operate the level crossing over a 24 to 48 hour without there being any further solar generated recharge.

Should the solar panels generate an insufficient charge, the NCDOT funded system is underpinned by way of a back-up transformer.

A second NCDOT funded solar-powered level crossing installation is in the planning stage. Additionally, it is hoped that other rail infrastructure managers will see the benefits of this green technology and install them more widely.

United States: HAWK signals conflict with level crossing signals

A growing number of cities in the United States are adopting the HAWK pedestrian crossing system employing alternating flashing red signals with a different meaning to the flashing red lights used at level crossings.

The unambiguous position at a level crossing is that you stop and remain stopped until the flashing lights are extinguished. However at HAWK pedestrian level crossings the motorist stops for a red light as usual but may proceed if the crossing is clear once the red flashing light sequence has begun. In the case of a motorist who is not already stopped, the flashing red means stop and proceed if safe so to do.

A number of people have flagged up the dangers that the adoption of HAWK pedestrian activated crossings will undermine the integrity of flashing red lights installed at level crossings. This is surely an issue that human factors experts need to address before there are accidents at level crossings in which motorists have stopped at the alternating flashing lights and then proceeded because they believed it safe to cross because they could not see an approaching train.

HAWK pedestrian crossing signal

Berlin, Germany: Siemens looking beyond the home market

Siemens has been successful in securing adoption of its SIMIS LC level crossing control system in Germany with more than 400 crossings equipped with the system over the past decade. Additionally, SIMIS LC can be found in other jurisdictions ncluding Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Hungary and Israel which between them account for a further 50 SIMIS LC systems.

The Siemens Mobility business unit champions the versatility of the SIMIS LC system and the ease with which it can be supplied to meet diverse national standards and rail infrastructure manager requirements.

In developing SIMIS LC, Siemens aim was to supply a modular system using commercially available off-the-shelf sub systems. Siemens also aimed to future proof the system by allowing for elements of the system to be modually-upgradeable as technology advances.

For each installation a computerised interlocking is provided, which interfaces with existing rail infrastructure systems. However, the first challenge is to get away from past procurement practices which have too often led to the further acquisition of obsolescent technology because it is a de facto company standard derived from past practice. This approach drives in costs because it is reliant on small batch production of “old technology” components and sub-systems.

The use of obsolescent technologies is not just an issue that faces Siemens; rather it is one affecting all manufacturers offering new technology into an inherently conservative approach to rail infrastructure systems. A further challenge faced by companies is the multiple approvals that are needed because the standards are still bespoke at the country or railway system level. Getting cross acceptance to work will, along, with the new technologies, drive-down the cost of replacing and upgrading level crossing systems.