Safety Demonstration and Risk Management at Rail-Road Level Crossing at Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit Network

Safety and security are among the major basic needs for the public in daily life and transportation plays a crucial role in satisfying this need. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, estimates of 1.2 million people worldwide died as a result of road traffic injuries in 2013 and it is estimated that road traffic injuries will be the 6th leading cause of death by 2030. Among the various types of road traffic injuries, accidents between trains and road vehicles are the deadliest and are associated with high cost of accidents. As Railway transportation continues to be an important piece to the overall national transportation puzzle in Ethiopia and as congestion continues to increase on the nation’s roadways, commuters continue to flock to public transit as an alternative transportation mode. In Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit, there are over 20 level crossings, this represent a significant safety hazard to both road and rail users. In this paper, we used safety demonstration by complete system analysis to carry out safety demonstration for level crossing at Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit, and Failure mode effect analysis was used for identifying the potential hazards associated with the system and their root causes. Hazards associated with Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit level crossing are identified and classified, and results showed that 41% of the hazards are caused by Human errors, technical problems has 32%, non-compliance with standard operating procedures takes 18% and 9% are caused by other factors. Our Failure mode effect analysis result shows that safe redesign of the level crossing, management and operation of level crossings can reduce risks, and frequent orientation of road vehicle users to always give attention to traffic signal in level crossing can reduce the number of fatal and serious incidents and collisions.

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Microscopic Traffic Characterization of Light Rail Transit Systems at Level Crossings

Advances in Civil Engineering ◽

10.1155/2021/5574848 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Robel Desta ◽

Daric Tesfaye ◽

János Tóth

Keyword(s):

Travel Time ◽

Addis Ababa ◽

Important Variable ◽

Light Rail ◽

Rail Transit ◽

Light Rail Transit ◽

Level Crossing ◽

Level Crossings ◽

Traffic Characterization ◽

Travel Time Savings

The movement of the light rail vehicles (LRVs) is highly interrupted at level crossings during peak hour times, especially when the intersections are not regulated by a coordinated signal system. Traffic modelling ensures better understanding and interpretation of complex traffic interactions. This study is aimed at modelling light rail transit (LRT) system operational characteristics at level crossings in Addis Ababa City using VISSIM software. The studied scenarios at Sebategna (All Way Stop Controlled, AWSC) and CMC (Roundabout) level crossings are the baseline without LRT scenario, the actual scenario with collected LRV headways, twice arrival frequency scenario, signalized actual LRV arrival, and signalized twice actual LRV arrival. The relative comparisons among the tested scenarios depicted that significant travel time savings can be achieved in some approaches if more green time is offered to nonconflicting phases during a light rail crossing. Overall, the average additional delays at level crossings increase from the base scenario with increasing light rail crossing frequencies, and delay at the level crossing is the second important variable that contributes to the variability of train travel time at peak hours. If it is a must for an intersection to have a rail road to pass through the median, different options should be verified based on the trade-off between the operational cost of the level crossing and the cost incurred if it is grade separated.

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