Improving safety at level crossings by interaction between Road and Railway vehicles using V2X communication

Level crossings between roads and railway tracks are accident hotspots. In Germany, crashes between road and railroad vehicles are quite rare but often cause severe injuries and fatalities. Reasons for crashes often are misunderstandings of rules and regulations, underestimated speeds of the railway vehicles, This paper presents a demonstration scenario proving the feasibility and benefit of direct communication between a car and a railway vehicle with or without an infrastructure entity in between. Both vehicles are equipped with C-ITS V2X communication modules and sending standard messages (CAM). If railway infrastructure can be integrated, further information improving road and railroad safety and providing driver information can be provided.