SŽDC Closes Railway Crossings Especially on Service Roads

When comparing the number of crossings, the railway network density and exceptional events at railway crossings, the Czech Republic does not leave the line of European average values in any way. Nevertheless, consequences of collisions caused in the vast majority by irresponsible behaviour of drivers and pedestrians are still extremely tragic.

”The effort of SŽDC is a constant decrease of railway crossings. It is therefore in our interest to close as many of them as possible. These are especially crossings at scarcely used service roads and crossings situated very close of each other. The best solution, but also the most expensive one is replacing them by grade-separated junctions. In many cases, the issue is not about saving money but eliminating sites of potential collisions“, explains Mr. Jiří Svoboda, Director General of SŽDC.

Reducing the number of railway crossings is a long-term procedure. In 2017 we were able to close 16 of them, in the last year it was 26 crossings. Their total number can be decreased not only by classic closures of scarcely used crossings but also by replacing them with grade-separated junctions. However, this solution is quite demanding both financially and technically.

At present, respective road administration authorities deal with 87 applications for closing railway crossings. Unfortunately, the number of rejections is pretty high. The procedure of a railway crossing’s closure is mostly being suspended by the road administration authority based on a disapproving standpoint of the road’s owner, most often the local community for reasons of prospective construction of a residential or industrial zone, blocking access to specific ground plots or land adaptations being under way.

The Concept of closing railway crossings and building their replacements, sanctioned recently by the Administration Board of SŽDC, reacts to the requirement of increasing operation safety at level crossings of roads with the railway. This concept sets a system and procedures for closing railway crossings including the ways of creating suitable substitute routes.

This year, SDC was able to close 11 railway crossings on its network:

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