When trains are running on public roads who has right of way… the train or autos… and… do trains have to obey traffic lights?
Is this the same everywhere?
I doubt it, as to stop a train at a light and then start it again would be very time consuming, and would probrably take a couple light cycles! Try stooping a train at a stop sign to wait for a car!
Matthew
That question and trainboy’s response brought back memories of when I worked for a number of years in the North where three very large hydro-electric generating stations were being built. There were rail lines into the project areas to bring in the equipment and supplies, and of course roads. Many kinds of really big, and I mean BIG trucks travelled these roads, including rock trucks, a kind of dump truck with tires 7 or 8 feet in diameter. I quickly learned that they had the absolute right of way on the roads. Believe me, when you’re driving a pickup truck and encounter a vehicle whose tires are bigger than your truck, you give them a lot of respect! I asked a locomotive engineer friend who had the right of way at a level crossing, trains or rock trucks. He said that the rock trucks did. Then I asked him what he thought the result of a collision between a locomotive and a rock truck would be like, and he figured it would be a draw–both would be destroyed and the locomotive would be pushed off the track.
I don’t know if I understand your question completely, but for the most part trains have the right-of-way. At least on main lines. There may be some examples where in town the local switching is limited by lights, but I even doubt that.
Since it can take over a mile to stop a train, having it obey the same lights as cars would not work very well. The lights signal you see for trains has to do with the track ahead, and making sure they don’t run into another train.
let’s put it this way…if i were in a stand-off between a car or a pick-up truck and a train…I think I’d let the train have the right of way each and every time!..red or green lights won’t stop an impact from happening no matter who has the right of way…chuck
In places where I have see trains running on streets, the traffic signals operate in flashing red mode while the train is present.
The usual hierarchy starting at the top:
Ships
Trains
Motor Vehicles
Pedestrians
Doc
The auto would be able to manuever a lot more easily, so the train would probably have ROW
At the Woodburn, OR wye, I don’t think there are any signals - but the stop signs are for the trains.
When I lived in Lompoc, CA, where there was (and maybe still is) some street running, the trains had the right-of-way. Any car-train collision was the car’s fault.
Traffic lights were linked to crossing signals, and would turn red in one or both directions at intersections when a train was present, as required depending on where the tracks went.
The SP and then UP used to run right down the main street of Modesto, California, and a city ordinance required the train to obey traffic signals just like cars.
Doing so created even more of a traffic jam because the train could not start and stop as easily as the other traffic.
The UP eventually re-routed their line around the town to avoid city street running.
If the track is IN THE STREET, trains are usually required to obey the traffic signals, just like any other moter vehicle. Note that in such a situation, one would normally be dealing with short trains moving at extremely low speeds.
If the track is on a seperate right of way between lanes in a street, then the normal rules would probably apply.
Where the highway or railway traffic justifies the expense, the grade crossing signals are often tied into the traffic signals. There is no reason to allow the traffic signal to display proceed if the crossing signal is displaying stop due to the presence of a train.
Have fun
Back in the Navy we had something called the “Law of Gross Tonnage” , Yea your 14’ bayliner may techically have the right of way but the Aircraft Carrier is not changing course!
bill