In 2020, Elmontaż Sp. z o. o. in cooperation with the University of Technology and Humanities in Bielsko-Biała started the implementation of research and development works co-financed by the National Center for Research and Development on the project under the name:

 

„A system of monitoring and analysis of events allowing to increase safety at category D railway crossings, as well as identifying compliance with applicable traffic regulations “

 

The result of the project will be the SafeCross monitoring system which will increase the safety of category D railway crossings.

Category D railway crossings account for approx. 60.3% of all railway crossings in Poland. They are not equipped with any traffic safety systems or devices which means that most dangerous accidents occur on them.

The system will warn drivers about approaching a railway crossing or a dangerous intersection, it will record the behaviour of the vehicle at the crossing and, thanks to the use of an artificial intelligence module, it will monitor drivers' compliance with traffic regulations.

The SafeCross system, through the automatic classification of recorded events, will provide precise information about identified undesirable incidents.

The use of the system by recipients will allow for:

1. improving the level of safety at railway crossings and at particularly dangerous road intersections,
2. reducing the number of incidents related to non-compliance with traffic regulations - because of additional signalling, and the inevitability of detecting violations of the regulations,
3. consequently, reducing the number of victims of road accidents,
4. reducing financial losses resulting from the decommissioning of damaged trains or the reconstruction of the tracks,
5. improving the functioning of rail transport resulting from a smaller number of incidents.

The SafeCross system will be able to be powered using renewable energy sources (RES), which will enable its use in conditions of lack of access to conventional energy sources.

The system consists of two sets of cameras located on opposite traffic lanes, a radar and a STOP sign with additional lighting. Part of this set are recording devices and network devices used to transfer data and from the IT infrastructure used to support the heart of the system, which is the SAFECROSS software. The software created as part of the project, thanks to the use of an artificial intelligence module, allows for analysing events in many different locations and in a continuous manner. Artificial intelligence algorithms will relieve the staff of tedious going over the recordings. Thanks to this, it will be possible to monitor the behaviour of drivers without having to involve the human factor unnecessarily.

 

Name of the beneficiary: Elmontaż Sp. z o.o. - Leader of the Consortium, University of Technology and Humanities in Bielsko-Biała - Consortium member. Project value: PLN 7,306,950.88. Co-financing value: PLN 4,855,771.12. Implementation period 01/09/2020 - 31/08/2023. The project is co-financed by the European Union using the European Regional Development Fund under sub-measure 4.1.4 of the Smart Growth Operational Program 2014-2020. The project is implemented as part of the contest of the National Center for Research and Development 1/4.1.4/Application projects