Is it true that the things might not come down sometimes?

Question

In a previous question about railroad signals someone stated that many accidents happened in her town becuase the things did not come down sometimes. Well I have complete trust in the things, I always prefer crossings that have them so I don't have to look both ways. If the things arent down or starting to come down I just go right through crossing.

Answer 1

Electromechanically, they're very close to failsafe.  If they fail, they're going to fail ON, falsely warning of a train that doesn't exist.

HOWEVER, I can assure you that small railroad maintenance-of-way equipment does not operate them. Its small size makes it hard to operate them reliably, so it simply is modified to not operate them at all, a "cloaking device" if you will.  So you can come up on a crossing and see a tamper, hy-rail truck or speeder whiz past without operating the gates.

Conversely, as Hoghead describes, some MoW equipment DOES operate the gates, big stuff like derricks and flatcars, and if a MoW crew is working in an area, they'll set off the flashers CONSTANTLY.  He described some situations where the Signal Dept. disabled the gates & flashers to prevent these from constatntly holding up traffic as the MoW crews worked.  They forgot to turn them back on ... WHOOPS!

As always , the best bet is to SLOW, LOOK and LISTEN, always, every time you cross tracks.  A train can come any track either direction, any time.   Presume that a runaway boxcar with no lights is moving at 150mph with great intention to hit and kill you.

Answer 2

Don't put any more trust in crossing protection than you would put in your toaster.

Twice in my time on the railroad, I operated freight trains, moving at speed, over major highway crossings and the protection was INOPERATIVE.  These were not secondary roads, but major, heavily traffic-ed roadways.

In both instances, the crossing protection was deliberately disabled by signal department personnel.  This is often done when maintenance of way crewmen are working on the tracks, as their activity would keep the gates constantly down.

In both instances, the work had been completed for the day and I had been authorized to proceed at track speed.  However, that authority came and was acted upon BEFORE the signal department had re-enabled the crossing protection.

Most state traffic laws require busses, school busses and vehicles carrying hazardous materials to STOP before crossing any tracks.  This is done because the crossing protection is not failsafe.

Turn off the blasting stereo, roll down the window and look both ways, ALWAYS.  This costs nothing and someday may save your life or the lives of loved ones.

If you wish, navigate to and visit my 360 by clicking on my smiling face, then click the 360 on my profile page and check out my blog post for June, 25.  It speaks to another facet of grade crossing safety.

Answer 3

Any doubt look for the train. Look for the train everytime i say.

Answer 4

By "the things" I am guessing you mean the crossing gates. They have a high level of redundancy, failure is rare but it happens. They are a mechanical device and can fail. They do not ever ever ever resolve you the driver of the responsibilty to LOOK!!! Why would you ever trust something like that to avoid disaster when you can do it yourself. That train cant swerve to hit or miss you, it is totally your responsibility to stay out of it's way.

Answer 5

The railroad crossing arms are always accompanied by red flashing lights: the lights are the primary means of indicating the approach of one or more trains, not the position of the arms. Even so, as other contributors have mentioned, it is still up to you to look both ways before venturing on to the crossing.

Answer 6

You're complete blind faith in railroad crossing arms and their function could lead to an accident.  Crossing arms are mechanical, using motors and gears and electrical switches and sensors.  All items that make them work are not fail safe.  They can and do fail.  You should always look both ways as if you were a pedestrian crossing the street.

Answer 7

"The things"? Do you mean crossing arms? They are a mechanical device, and mechanical devices can and do fail sometimes. Trust your eyes and ears! You can stop, look both ways and then proceed with caution, the train can't.

Answer 8

Would you cross the road without looking both ways?

If you are too stupid to look both ways before crossing railroad tracks the by all means keep doing so. Just do us a favor and have yourself sterilized so you don't pass along your moron genes and breed a whole new generation of simpletons who walk or drive blindly in front of very large objects moving at high speed.