New alarm system should reduce the number of accidents at level crossings
The company responsible for managing Belgium’s rail infrastructure Infrabel is testing a new alarm system at level crossing equipped with barriers. The news appears in Tuesday edition of the daily ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’. Those that walk or cycle through when the barrier is down will hear a loud alarm signal sound.
Infrabel hopes that the new system will reduce the number of accidents. Rail passengers sometimes put their lives at risk by slipping through closed barriers in order to catch their train.
Infrabel’s Fréderic Petit told the paper that "The alarm system is above all aimed at pedestrian and cyclists. When they arrive at a level crossing at which the barrier is down a sensor will detect them and an alarm signal will be sounded. They idea is to make them step back”.
Mr Petit added that a trial in Luxembourg province had produced positive results and that Infrabel now intends to extend the system to other areas of the county.
However, it is still unclear how many level crossings will be equipped with the new warning system.
"In the first instance Infrabel is looking at level crossings near to schools through which a lot of pedestrians and cyclists pass”, Mr Petit added.