RDG467 wrote:I usually try to avoid that crossing by going to Rte 63 or the Welsh Rd overpass, but I was stuck in the left lane and didn't want to make a hard right across 2 lanes of traffic onto Easton Rd.
The MBTA solution sounds like a good one.
I sent a comment to SEPTA using their website. Let's see if they respond.
New Hyde park on the LIRR has this too - if a train stops in the station, the gates a block down or so pop up, the cab signal goes to restricting, and when the train leaves, it can only go 15mphg. The gates reactivate and then the cab signal pops back to whatever (usually 80 I think), and the train's free to go.
This is actually a better design because it's all automatic, and also, if a stopping train overshoots for whatever reason, the gates are already down, so it's safer.
I don't get why this oisn't more common. I doubt it's difficult to implement, and it keeps the gates at far crossings up more, which also helps because it moves traffic, and also folks don't wait forever for a train when the gates are down, which means they're more likely to not ddge the gates because they 'know' if the gates are down a train's about to go through.