U.s. Department of Transportation

Highway Rail-grade Crossing Safety Research: Railroad Infrastructure Trespassing Detection Systems Research in Pittsford, New York U.s. Department of Transportation

The U. S. Department of Transportation?s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, under the direction of the Federal Railroad Administration, conducted a 3-year demonstration of an automated prototype railroad infrastructure security system on a railroad bridge. Specifically, this commercial-off-the-shelf technology system was installed at a bridge in Pittsford, New York, where trespassing is commonplace and fatalities have occurred. This video-based trespass monitoring and deterrent system had the capability of detecting trespass events when an intrusion on the railroad right-of-way occurred. The interactive system comprised video cameras, motion detectors, infrared illuminators, speakers, and central processing units. Once a trespass event occurred, the in-situ system sent audible and visual signals to the monitoring workstation at the local security company where an attendant validated the alarm by viewing the live images from the scene.