Level crossings by country

They are also in use with two or three lights and without barriers on tramways at De Panne (until 2021), Zwijndrecht (until 2019), Anderlues, Ghent, and MIVB Line 44 (only here with bells).

[citation needed] In the Eesti Muuseumraudtee, there is a level crossing with Czechoslovakian SSSR lights and two signs that are used from Romania, except that the "Opreşte la lumina roşie" (stop at the red light) sign is translated to other text in Estonian and the bells are though looked like from Post-Soviet designs.

It was seen, for example, in Niitvälja, were it had old signals from the designs of the pre-USSR railway signaling, that includes a white light that flash when the crossing clear, and it has buck horns that were died in 2016 with the replacement with alarms inside it and remained until 2021, and in Valingu, were it had mechanical ring bells, which soon it was also replaced with alarms inside it, just like the other crossings.

[7] French level crossings usually have automatic half barriers, a single red light on a circle backboard, and bells (11,200 out of 15,300).

[11] In Hungary the white flashing light is called an idle signal, it means that the device is in working order, and the drivers may cross the railway without stopping if they deem it safe, yet should they still do so with caution.

Public railway crossings in Canada are required by law to be marked by a crossbuck, along with alternating flashing red lights and gate arms on high-traffic roads.

Normally a yield sign is used, unless it is determined that all vehicles should stop at the crossing, such as a location with poor sight distance.

United States Federal Railroad Administration regulations restrict trains to a maximum speed of 110 mph (177 km/h) at standard grade crossings.

Here, due to the high speed of the trains, gates that totally prevent road traffic from reaching the tracks are mandatory on all level crossings.

Another new type of barrier was tested in Michigan and was hoped to reduce drivers attempting to drive around lowered crossing gates.

[26][27][needs update] In the United States and in countries following United States practices, a locomotive must have a bright headlight and ditch lights (two lights located below the headlight but above the pilot), a working bell, and a whistle or horn that must be sounded four times (long-long-short-long), similar to the signal for the International Morse Code letter "Q", as the train approaches the crossing.

[citation needed] In the interest of noise abatement, some U.S. cities have passed laws prohibiting the sounding of bells and whistles.

In December 2003, the Federal Railroad Administration published regulations that would create areas where train horns could be silenced, provided that certain safety measures were put in place, such as 4-quadrant gates and concrete barriers to prevent drivers from circumventing the gates or automatic whistles (also called wayside horns) mounted at the crossing.

Rail "Quiet Zone" crossings still require bells as part of the AWDs, in addition to the wayside horns.

[citation needed] Example : 22°18'51.0"N 114°02'25.3"E Most of Hong Kong's railway network is either underground or on elevated viaducts, meaning that level crossings are rare.

Level crossing barriers have yellow and black arms with a bilingual stop sign placed in the middle.

[36] On 26 July 2022, a Merak local train bound for Rangkasbitung hit an "odong-odong" in Serang, killing passengers and children in the front car.

[37] Due to the high death toll of train-versus-car accidents and severe traffic-jam impact, both local and national governments have started to remove level crossings, especially in Jakarta.

There are still some networks in use, especially at Jatiroto (8°07'37.2"S 113°21'50.1"E) and Semboro (8°12'21.5"S 113°26'37.4"E) Sugar mill, with primitive barriers, almost no lights, no bells, and no warning signs.

Example : 31°55'29.9"N 34°48'54.3"EIsrael generally follows United States practices, and much of the Israel Railways network employs American-made crossing warning equipment.

Example : 35°43'43.3"N 139°20'04.8"EAccording to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, there are in total about 33,300 level crossings (踏切, fumikiri) in Japan as of 2016.

Most of these are protected with electronic signals (踏切警報機, fumikiri keihouki) usually equipped with alternating flashing red lights and yellow-and-black-striped barriers.

Many signals are also equipped with signs with red LED arrows that indicate the direction in which approaching trains are moving.

Similarly to school buses in the United States, but unlike many other countries, all cars and bicycles must stop before proceeding over any level crossing in Japan, regardless of whether there are electronic signals, as required by the Road Traffic Act.

[42][failed verification] On some busy rail lines, especially in urban areas like in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, so many trains pass through some level crossings that they are almost always closed to vehicular traffic.

In some cases, such as the Chūō Main Line, more than 50 trains pass in an hour, which equates to only two minutes in which vehicles can cross the tracks during that interval, causing serious traffic congestion and inconvenience.

Many such crossings, known in Japanese as akazu no fumikiri (開かずの踏切), have been eliminated by grade separating rail lines, generally by moving them onto viaducts (高架化 (kouka-ka)) or underground tracks (地下化 (chika-ka)).

Some innovations in Australia are crossbucks with a pair of flashing yellow lights at about 200 metres (660 ft) before the level crossing, called advance active warning signals (AAWS).

AAWS are used where road speeds are high, and braking distances are extended, or where the level crossing is obscured by blind curves or sunlight.

An accident of this type occurred in August 1993 at Rolleston, near Christchurch, when a cement mixer truck turned right off State Highway 1 and collided with the side of a southbound Southerner passenger train, ripping open two carriages.