Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has received a federal grant to develop a new lineside safety system which will be able to automatically stop trains from entering worksites.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has provided a $5 million to fund a two-year programme which will culminate with a demonstration of the new system.
Track workers will be equipped with a device which communicates with oncoming trains and the BART Operations Control Center. If a worker doesn’t respond to a warning from the device, any approaching trains will be automatically stopped from entering the site.
BART board president Tom Blalock said: “We have high hopes for this project.
“Not only could it save lives here at BART, but we believe it can also protect track workers at any rail system nationwide once we have successfully demonstrated this technology.”
Your stock photo has all the BART markings on the train photoshopped out!