The intelligent artificial vision system begiCROSSING, developed by Begirale Controlling Risk, the artificial vision area of DOMINION, will be installed in another six level crossings of the Basque Railway Infrastructure Administrator, Euskal Trenbide Sarea (ETS) with the aim of improving the security at these critical points, where the railroad interacts with road vehicles and pedestrians. This measure joins the one already adopted last year and in which begiCROSSING was successfully installed in six level crossings at the ETS level.
The six points chosen on this occasion, Hendaia (Donostia-Hendaia), Errenteria (Donostia-Hendaia), Ctra. Gernika (Amorebieta-Bermeo), Calle Vega (Amorebieta-Bermeo), Aguinaga (Bilbao-Donostia) and Urbi (Bilbao- Donostia), will have this innovative system that will monitor the level crossings and generate warnings and alarms that will be transmitted both to the management system installed at the command post and to the level crossing itself, so that it can act on the signalling systems of the level crossing modifying the signal and alerting the machinist of the existence of an incidence.
Specifically, the installation to be implemented consists of the start-up of an automatic system for detecting anomalies and incidents from the analysis of real-time video signals from begiCROSSING; for this, it will be necessary to install a series of cameras that capture the surroundings of the level crossing. The captured images will be processed in real time and will allow to determine alterations in the normal sequences of operation of the level crossing or of the traffic that crosses it, determining an alarm or event in case any alteration is detected. These will be sent to the command post and, depending on their cause, will serve as an additional element for the management of the incident. In addition, the level crossing will receive the alarm and will manage it according to the status of the step. The system consists of field equipment and elements in command post or technical room that culminate with exploitation software in a functional environment for the management of information along with its events and alarms.
A technology identified as 'best practice' internationally
According to the report 'Analysis of level crossing safety in Europe and beyond' carried out within the framework of the European project SAFER-LC, executed by a research consortium of 17 organizations from ten countries (universities, technological centres, railway operators , railway infrastructure managers, ...), begiCROSSING has been identified as one of the best practices at international level to improve the safety of level crossings.
The document, which analyses the situation of 24 countries in terms of security in level crossings, classifies begiCROSSING as a "low cost alternative with a high impact on security; it uses a video camera to give information in real time to detect and alert of risks related to obstacles in the tracks and/or malfunctioning of level crossings ". In addition, the document explains that the objective of the solution is to "increase security and control over level crossings through real-time information on the status of level crossings, both from the perspective of the road and the road (people and vehicles) ".
"The report shows that we are following the right direction and that the sector appreciates this contribution to safety in the railway environment, a technological innovation that in addition to being a pioneer worldwide, has been made with 100% own technology ".
Iñigo Zorriketa
| Director of Artificial Vision Area
A cutting-edge technology
begiCROSSING is based on the use of video content analysis technologies that allow analysing video automatically to determine temporary events not based on a single image. As such, it can be considered as the automated equivalent of the biological visual cortex. This facilitates the early detection of incidents in railway-level crossings, caused by the obstruction of the passage zone or by the failure of any of the safety elements of the structure of the level crossing. It is a technological tool designed to help improve safety by early detection of situations that may generate risks, damages, or accidents in the worst case.
The system, for which railway infrastructure managers of several countries have already been interested, has the virtue that it does not require the installation of additional cameras, but it endows with intelligence existing infrastructures. It works in real time, so it minimizes the time of action and consequences of the event produced. It receives as input the video streams directly from the cameras and immediately generates information related to the incidents so that they can be viewed and attended from a remote monitoring system. In this way, decisions can be made quickly and generate an information database to improve security protocols.
