Railroad Forums 

Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1475076  by alcoAL
 
I noticed over the past week at 2 crossings that crash posts, or maybe more properly, anti-crash posts, have been installed. I wasn’t able to get a photo, but there are 2 posts on each side of the track located between the gate and the track. Looks like if a car turns onto the track, the posts will stop them. One was on the Central Branch at Straight Path Road and the other on the main line in Farmingdale at Main Street.
 #1475081  by MattW
 
How are they supposed to work? Do they erect when the crossing is inactive? Otherwise, cars are narrower than trains.
 #1475085  by alcoAL
 
They’re mounted in the ground. Picture a car turning onto the track, it’s doing that at an angle. I’m assuming it’ll hit one of the posts and stop if the post doesn’t break away. I’m sure some agency at some level spent a lot of money on studies to come up with this solution. Hopefully they actually tested it.
 #1475088  by mwichten
 
I saw them on 112 in Port Jefferson. It’s a good visual indicator across the abnormally wide crossing which will hopefully help the people who aren’t familiar with the crossing, easily confused, or rely way too much on the gps instructions
and turn into the tracks.

They look like the break away lane markers you see everywhere else - base affixed to the roadway surface and the plastic break away tube standing vertical. The ones I saw were white.
 #1475111  by BuddR32
 
mwichten wrote:I saw them on 112 in Port Jefferson. It’s a good visual indicator across the abnormally wide crossing which will hopefully help the people who aren’t familiar with the crossing, easily confused, or rely way too much on the gps instructions
and turn into the tracks.

They look like the break away lane markers you see everywhere else - base affixed to the roadway surface and the plastic break away tube standing vertical. The ones I saw were white.
Exactly what they are. Theyre not crash post and wont stop anything. They, along with the solid white line painted are to just highlight, that the crossing is not to be turned on to.
 #1475119  by Sir Ray
 
They showed up at the Chestnut St. Crossing directly south of the Hempstead Gardens station on the W. Hempstead branch a few weeks ago. I immediately realized what they were for (basically a bendable/break-away post, of the type you see on median islands in major roads, except white instead of yellow), and figured it was a pretty reasonable idea.
 #1475139  by Sigz
 
They’re called delineators. They’re flexible/breakaway and will not physically prevent a vehicle from entering the track area. They exist only to inform motorist that the lane continues over the grade crossing; it’s an effort to prevent drivers from turning onto the tracks.
 #1475145  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone:

As Sigz mentions delineator posts are being installed to mark crossings and show that a railroad
track is there along with a white line designating where the road lanes are. In some cases there
are zebra-type warning stripes that are used along with the solid white line on crossings.

The problem locations are those in which an intersecting road closely parallels tracks at crossings.
One of the best examples is at Mineola is Front Street alongside the Main Line between the Main
Street and Willis Avenue crossings that has been the source of some of these problems over time.

These delineator posts are in use by railroads in places that have had problems of vehicles turning
into track areas from paralleling streets - one of the best examples is the busy Metra/BNSF Railway
Aurora Line in the Chicago area which these posts can be visible in videos of trains at crossings on
the route. This is a low cost way to better designate and mark crossings which is a good move.

MACTRAXX
 #1475163  by DogBert
 
Also installed last week at Borden ave in LIC.

I give it a month before they are destroyed. They should have installed something more substantial.
 #1475171  by Head-end View
 
DogBert has a point. At the crossings in Westbury, some are already gone or knocked down to half their original height. I thought they might last at least to next Winter. I was wrong. And the LIRR was naive to think this wouldn't happen. The white lines are a good idea though. Relatively inexpensive and reasonably intuitive. But let's see if they ever get repainted after they fade in a year or so. :(
 #1475175  by tahawus84
 
I don’t think they will make it though more than one snow storm. Who is going to shovel the shoulder for pedestrians now that they can’t plow to the edge of the road?
I appreciate the attempt but maybe stiffer fines and penalties for the distracted and idiots who drive on the tracks would be a better idea.
 #1475267  by krispy
 
They are a immediate solution to a big problem that isn't going away. Is it perfect? Of course not. I have no doubt they expect these things to get broken, like runway lights in a airport or many things in transportation, it has to be "frangible" or able to break off easily so it doesn't damage a car or be a hazard to both trains or cars. Better to make extra work for track and/or signal than to have to deal with the millions of dollars of paying out to families of fatalities, like Metro-North is doing for the Valhalla wreck.

Most of you are young, have good eyesight and have good driving awareness. However, there are many parts of LI that have a big elderly population who should seriously consider giving up driving but don't, and anyone who drives in the areas of 5 towns or along the Long Beach branch know what I'm talking about. Or the folks who smoke or are in poor health with no night vision, or the vast majority of cell users who can't put the phones down. That's why "stiffer fines and penalties for the distracted and idiots who drive on the tracks" haven't worked so far.

As long as we have so many grade crossings, we're going to have issues like this. Anyone with a better idea, they'll love to hear from you...
 #1475304  by vince
 
>>>krispy
"......................snip.................. Anyone with a better idea, they'll love to hear from you..."
Sure . . . Swinging grade crossing gates as are used in the UK. Tracks are blocked when gates are open to road traffic AND would stop the run-around-the-gate deaths that occur with any partial gate system as used in the US as cited in krispy's post:
"..........families of fatalities, like Metro-North is doing for the Valhalla wreck. ............"
Excuse by the RR's? Cost!
I wonder where they came up with what are human lives worth? A 4 quadrant gate is somewhat less (75%?) than a two gate system.

regards,
vince
 #1475319  by Sir Ray
 
vince wrote:Swinging grade crossing gates as are used in the UK. Tracks are blocked when gates are open to road traffic AND would stop the run-around-the-gate deaths that occur with any partial gate system as used in the US
I think the UK has gotten away from that design with their later automatic gated level crossings, which use the typical drop arm barriers as seen in the US (normally 4 quadrant, but still drop arms). Gate barriers do still exist on heritage railways and the like, but perhaps the barrier arms are too long to stow across the ROW when not in use vs the generally smaller gates.