Research Council: consider should be safer – NRC

"Insufficiently ambitious", the Dutch Security Office (OVV) calls the Dutch security policy around level crossings. The ministry responsible for infrastructure and water management must take control and set concrete targets within six months to improve safety. Who advises the OVV in the investigation report Overwegveiligheid – A risky crossroads

All 127 unsecured passages must be lifted or secured. "Unsafe passages are unacceptable with the current high train speeds," writes the OVV. In addition, 25 secure crossings must be adapted and the waiting time for road traffic must be reduced to about 200 level crossings. These are some concrete measures that the research council prescribes.

Lammetjes

The immediate reason for the investigation is an accident occurred in Harlingen on March 27, 2017, during an unsafe passage. A father (31 years old) and his three-year-old son were killed in a collision with a train. the lambs had watched the yard of a farmer. The crossing has been closed since.

The Netherlands has nearly 2,400 level crossings, 95% of which, according to ProRail, are secured by fences, bells and lights. 127 passages are unsecured and are mainly on (private) access roads to farms and churches. Since 2009, there have been between 20 and 50 incidents involving crossings each year, with an average of eleven deaths.

Well Improved

Although crossing safety improved significantly between 2000 and 2017, the number of accidents decreased by 60%. 70% of deaths – the OVV believes that many things can still be improved.

Since 2010, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Works no longer formulates specific safety objectives. The OVV also concludes that the security policy is too fragmented. It is not known whether the ProRail department or railway manager is responsible for crossing safety. There are also no rules in the law for the minimum safety of a railway crossing.

ProRail has been searching for years to determine whether it is secure or not. "The safest crossing is not the crossing," ProRail replies to the OVV report. ProRail President Pier Eringa told Radio 1, just after the crash in Harlingen last year, that road users were to be diverted – above ground and underground. "Every railway is a kind of highway and on highways you do not have a junction with traffic lights," Eringa said.

Cost Element

But digging tunnels under railroad tracks and bridges costs a lot. Crossing protection also costs a lot of money – easily a million euros per crossing due to expensive detection technology that must detect an arriving train.

In addition to a comprehensive policy and clear rules, the ministry must invest significantly in the coming years. it's about the OVV. The expectation is that it will become even more busy on the track and on the road. Earlier this month, the Cabinet announced that it would allocate an additional 50 million euros to secure dangerous crossings

The Dutch railways are unique in Europe as they are busy and it There are many level crossings. According to the OVV, the Netherlands should take the example of the United Kingdom and Switzerland, where the railways are converted to rail use, but the deaths are much fewer [19659014] [ad_2]
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