Caltrain leans on AI to make Churchill rail crossing safer

Caltrain has installed RailSentry, an AI-powered technology, at the Churchill Avenue rail crossing in Palo Alto to enhance safety. The system uses cameras and lidar to detect and distinguish between objects, alerting a security operations center if any intrude on the tracks. While RailSentry is a significant improvement, it is part of a larger effort including pavement markers, signage, and upgraded fencing to address safety concerns at the crossing.

Palo Alto has a history of collisions, including student suicides, at and near Caltrain crossings. Between 2008 and September 2020, there were eight fatal incidents in which a train hit a vehicle or pedestrian at a Palo Alto grade crossing.

RailSentry, a technology by Missouri-based company Herzog, was installed at Churchill crossing in March. After a monthlong learning period, the technology is in use, though it is still being fine-tuned to ensure it is working according to the needs of the crossing. Two high-def closed-circuit television cameras at the crossing are working in tandem with lidar to detect and distinguish between people, vehicles, animals and more. Through geofencing, the technology applies virtual perimeters to areas of the crossing and tracks. Each area is subject to specific rules regarding what should and shouldn’t enter it. For example, if a person shows up for more than a couple of seconds in an area that is meant only for trains, the system will send out an alert. [that's common stuff in home security cameras for under $100! - POF]

The system is monitored 24 hours a day by a security operations center, which contacts Caltrain if action needs to be taken.

The technology is a step up from the city’s existing railway cameras, which don’t have the help of AI or lidar to identify objects. RailSentry has “advanced machine learning based analysis, not just the raw sensing.” RailSentry “learns how cars behave and allows us to identify further improvements that can be made.” RailSentry has already taught Caltrain officials more about how drivers act at rail crossings.

Oh boy! Another application for AI!

CalTrain has a top speed of 79 mph on the San Francisco Peninsula corridor and reaches that speed on most sections of track. The Churchill Ave crossing is less than a mile from the Palo Alto station. Local, limited, and express trains frequently stop at Palo Alto meaning most trains are either slowing down or speeding up near Churchill Avenue. The train speed at Churchill Ave is likely <40 mph. Express trains or non-stopping trains pass through at 50–60 mph if they’re not slowing for Palo Alto station.

Questions:
1. How in the world does AI help reduce incursions, collisions and deaths? The article does not explain that. Sure the system can detect people, animals and cars, but then humans step in.
2. The security operations center people contact CalTrain if there's an incursion. Why isn't CalTrain monitoring the system itself? How much time does it take to relay info from the security operations center to CalTrain?
3. Then what? Is there enough time to stop a train?

The best solution is a grade crossing. In Burlingame (up the road from Palo Alto), Caltrain estimated a Broadway underpass would cost $320 million. A builder estimated $900 million! The Burlingame City Council is now looking at a scaled-back version of the project, but it is still projected to cost almost $600 million.

Almost a BILLION DOLLARS for ONE underpass? What the hay?

In 1864, the ENTIRE San Francisco - San Jose 50 mile rail line cost $2 million to construct. That is about $38 million in 2025 dollars. That ONE underpass under the tracks would cost 20 times more than the entire original San Fran to San Jose rail line did in 1864! Who says modern man doesn't know how to do things right?

Churchill crossing:

Oh, My, in 1989 I was attending the People’s Republic of San Francisco State University, and taking that train up and down the peninsula. On one of the days after the 1989 earthquake, there was an aftershock. Growing up in the area, small earthquakes and aftershocks were not scary.

This day, the aftershock was a 4-5 on the Richter scale. What I did not know was that the train regulations mandate only 25mph after an earthquake. As the train crawled up the peninsula, the cars on El Camino Real were zooming past the train. A businessman in the grey suit took out one of those first wireless phones, the ones we called a brick, and informed his office that he would be late. I yelled at him to order some pizza.

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