Russian Grade Crossing

Aren't they actually secret surface-to-air missile launchers being tested?

On a serious note...I have read that many grade crossings are not signaled. This must be a major road.

Thanks for the interesting photo.

Certainly discourages drivers from going around the gates.

I call that.........smart!

Plus, I'm willing to bet that if some idiot DOES get struck by a train, in Russia they are automatically at fault (for being on the State Railway right-of-way), and there would be NO lawsuits against the railroad.

Actually, I think we could use a few of those in this country.  If they were randomly located on dangerous intersections, that would make more people wonder before they try beating the trains out again.....

Aren't they already some four gate setups at "quiet" crossings?

Stuart

Honestly, I'm not really sure what I see in that picture! I see the standard red-and-white gate, and below that, seeming to be lying on the road surface, are a couple of black "beams" with angled ends (you can see the surface of the road between them).

Do I need to get my eyes checked??

I am with smd4....I was trying to figue out what I was looking at....the gate came down, and an unseen gateman tossed two crossties out into the road?

Enlarge the photograph, and you will see that those two "ramp like things" pop up out of the street, AGAINST traffic. If an automobile where to hit one of those things at any reasonable speed, it would obviously tear the front end suspension right off the car.

OK, now I see. Yeah, hitting one of those would not make for a pleasant day.

Seemingly an interesting idea, using same tech as a drawbridge. our drawbridges here

sometimes tend to get stuck in the open pos!! 

Thanks, zhyachts for giving us a good pic.  

Nice shot!

Peter

If we had them here for sure a nut case or a DUI would crash into one of them and then sue the railroad for having them .

Interesting. Looks like it could be implemented pretty easily using the steel cover plates used during construction. Would hate to see those things get stuck open, though, because no one will be moving past them. As Maint said, though, some idiot or DUI (but I repeat myself) would ram one and try to sue over it.

There are a large number of these automatic barriers in New York City since 911, to prevent terrorists from driving a truck down a street or into a building..

Something similar to this was being tested in Michigan on an upgraded line hosting (or slated to host) higher-speed passenger service.

Watch the video on the side of the page.

As for the Russian ramps, I've seen dash-cam video of at least two motorcyclists running crossings so equipped and being launched into the air on the other side

(served them right)

---PCJ

I'm disappointed - given the location, I would expect those pop-ups to at least have a hedgehog array of RPG's.