Blackburn to Manchester Upgrade

[Joseph_Locke]

Sorry but I get very confused about the different types of level crossing. AOCL and ABCL both refer to crossings that are locally monitored - but there is no monitoring at Turton except by the driver. Is that what locally monitored actually means - I thought it meant monitored by an adjacent gate box. Similarly I thought an MCB is a manual crossing controlled by an adjacent box - and there isn't one!

Erm - could someone put an end to my befuddlement!

AOCL = Automatic (no signaller) Open (no barriers) Crossing Locally Monitored (the driver has to check that the crossing is working using a white light lineside and that it is clear, hence the low speed restriction).

ABCL = Automatic (no signaller) Barrier (barriers) Crossing Locally Monitored (the driver has to check that the crossing is working using a white light lineside and that it is clear, hence the low speed restriction).

AOCL+B = Automatic (no signaller) Open (no barriers) Crossing Locally Monitored (the driver has to check that the crossing is working using a white light lineside and that it is clear, hence the low speed restriction) with barriers added on. Confused? You aren't alone.

MCB = Manually (push button to lower for trains) Controlled (by signaller) Barrier (full-width barriers). The variations are all on how the signaller is given the information that the crossing is clear:

" " = direct, the signaller can see the crossing through the window
CCTV = television
OD = LiDAR scanners and similar
OC = the barriers are only raised when the user asks nicely

Other crossing types:

OC = Open Crossing - no lights, barriers, gates, etc.
UWC = User Worked Crossing - gates operated by the user
TMO = Train Man Operated - gates or barriers operated by the traincrew when required
AHB = Automatic Half Barrier - these work completely automatically and the railway doesn't (and can't) check the crossing is clear.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

No, I meant upgrade the level crossing to modern (barriered) standards so as to eliminate the speed restriction over it

The latest and most detailed posting from Joseph_Locke would seem to say that an AOCL+B system would still require speed restrictions.

 

[The Planner]

If it was going to be upgraded then it would go MCB-OD, everything else seems to be at the minute. The national level crossings team get very exciteable if anything else is proposed.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Which also provides an opportunity to moan later, when the job doesn't turn out how they initially reported it!

Slightly cynical but probably right on the money.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

AOCL = Automatic (no signaller) Open (no barriers) Crossing Locally Monitored (the driver has to check that the crossing is working using a white light lineside and that it is clear, hence the low speed restriction).

ABCL = Automatic (no signaller) Barrier (barriers) Crossing Locally Monitored (the driver has to check that the crossing is working using a white light lineside and that it is clear, hence the low speed restriction).

AOCL+B = Automatic (no signaller) Open (no barriers) Crossing Locally Monitored (the driver has to check that the crossing is working using a white light lineside and that it is clear, hence the low speed restriction) with barriers added on. Confused? You aren't alone.

MCB = Manually (push button to lower for trains) Controlled (by signaller) Barrier (full-width barriers). The variations are all on how the signaller is given the information that the crossing is clear:

" " = direct, the signaller can see the crossing through the window
CCTV = television
OD = LiDAR scanners and similar
OC = the barriers are only raised when the user asks nicely

Other crossing types:

OC = Open Crossing - no lights, barriers, gates, etc.
UWC = User Worked Crossing - gates operated by the user
TMO = Train Man Operated - gates or barriers operated by the traincrew when required
AHB = Automatic Half Barrier - these work completely automatically and the railway doesn't (and can't) check the crossing is clear.

Thank you very much for this post. An excellent summary for me to get my head around. Come to Kansas City USA - wow just wow - but the speeds are every low. I confess to having tried the "beat the train game" at their crossings some of which dont even have lights or barriers!!

 

[Darren R]

Thank you Joseph_Locke for the explanation. I did do a quick Google-search before my posting, hoping to find a 'level crossing for idiots' type guide. All I could find was very technical and made my head hurt - and included that to which you linked! I had always thought that "locally monitored" meant by nearby signal box or gate box, rather than by the driver. Now I stand corrected on that it makes more sense (although I still can't figure out the difference between ABCL and AOCL+B: but that is of no import here.)

I'm guessing the crossing upgrade is planned because of the need to improve safety at the crossing for road/foot passengers, rather than general improvements to the line, especially with 4tph and the possibility of construction traffic to the building plots on the far side. I'm also guessing that an upgrade sufficient to allow the improvements to line speed through the crossing would require fairly major changes to the signalling arrangements in the area and accordingly would not come cheap. Hopefully the funding to do so can be found soon though.

 

[edwin_m]

In a nutshell an ABCL was designed with barriers from the start. An AOCL+B is an AOCL that has had barriers added later by tapping into the existing AOCL circuits, which is much cheaper than replacing the whole thing. Functionally they are very similar but there are some detail differences that won't matter 99% of the time.

 

[Joseph_Locke]

I'm guessing the crossing upgrade is planned because of the need to improve safety at the crossing for road/foot passengers

Closer to a "rapid panic action to try and avoid an enforcement notice", but I'm a fairly old cynic.

The only difference between them is as edwin_m says:

In a nutshell an ABCL was designed with barriers from the start. An AOCL+B is an AOCL that has had barriers added later by tapping into the existing AOCL circuits, which is much cheaper than replacing the whole thing.

But giving no benefit to anyone really.

 

[edwin_m]

To be fair there is research on the RSSB site (which I don't have time to link to at the moment - sorry) which indicates that providing barriers at a crossing makes a significant difference to the accident rate.

 

[Darren R]

To be fair there is research on the RSSB site (which I don't have time to link to at the moment - sorry) which indicates that providing barriers at a crossing makes a significant difference to the accident rate.

Undoubtedly so, no arguments there. But I don't think this specific crossing is all that much a problem though. In three decades of passing it on trains I can count the number of times I've seen a vehicle waiting or having just crossed the line on the fingers of one hand! It's more of a pain in the nethers to trains - having to slow and then crawl through at 15mph when you just know there's nothing there!