Failure Evaluation of the Level Crossing Protection System Based on Fault Tree Analysis

Abstract

An intersection where railway line crosses a road at the same level is called level crossing. The development of the automotive industry has resulted in an increase in the number of vehicles. Thus the traffic on the level crossings has been raised and this, in turn, has resulted in an increase requirements in terms of level crossings safety. For this purpose, the Level Crossing Protection Systems (LCPS), that help to protect these road users, are built. LCPS systems, due to the need to ensure the efficient operating of the railway, should be developed taking into account the detailed analyses. It is necessary to include in these analyses the growing needs and expectations of users in terms of system functionality. However, the requirements for ensuring the reliability and safety of systems should be taken into consideration above all. One of the methods to identify and analyse the factors which may cause adverse events is the Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The authors of this article using the FTA method carried out a qualitative analysis of the safety of B class level crossings. Traffic safety related requirements for LCPS system were described. Then this analysis was used to identify top and intermediate events and build necessary fault trees. Conducted analysis may be helpful in the process of designing new LCPS systems.