Citation

Schnablegger J, Teply S. Transp. Res. Rec. 1977; 628: 6-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1977, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Railway rights-of-way in cities are attractive alternatives for transit corridors, but, for modes that are not fully grade-separated, such as light rail transit systems, there may be problems with combined railway and transit crossings of arterial streets. This situation has been studied in Edmonton, Alberta, where a light rail transit line is under construction. The surface portion of this line is along the railway right-of-way, and as a result, the operation of its eight grade crossings is regulated by railway authorities. The short headways of light rail transit could cause frequent disturbances to the road traffic that operates at a saturation during peak hours. This paper illustrates the method used for the analysis of the problem and discusses the surveys conducted. The basic principles governing the solutions to the grade-crossing problem are (a) the coordination of adjacent signalized intersections in such a way that the impact of the crossing closure is minimized and the system recovers shortly after the closure, (b) the integration of light rail transit scheduling and control with traffic control, i.e., restricting the closures to the periods of minimum impact on road traffic, and (c) the use of special features to increase safety.