Four-quadrant gate

It has a gate mechanism on both sides of the tracks for both directions of automotive traffic.

The exit gates blocking the road leading away from the tracks are equipped with a delay, and begin their descent to their horizontal position several seconds after the entrance gates do, so as to avoid trapping highway vehicles on the crossing.

In the United Kingdom, such crossings are categorised as manually-controlled barriers (MCB) because they are almost always controlled from a signal box or centre.

Some are known as MCB-CCTV level crossings, where they are supervised by video link to the signal box from which they are remotely controlled.

The gates can also be operated automatically, as long as the crossing is still checked for obstruction with a suitable detection technology.