Estudo de métodos para avaliação da segurança em passagens em nível e de alternativas de proteção

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore methods for assessing safety of grade crossings and alternative appropriate protection contained in the national technical literature in order to show that the Brazilian set of existing technical standards must be supplemented to implement appropriate security enhancements. The historical process of urban growth, involving the railroad, culminated in the establishment of a strong interaction in the grade crossings. For decades, these crossings showed risk of accidents that could be considered low or nonexistent due to the deactivation or low use of the railroad tracks. With the privatization of railways and railway upturn in production, the theme has been seen, then, effectively as a problem to be solved because of the risk to vehicles and pedestrians, as well as the bottleneck that is the operational performance of the rail network. The evaluation of the critical grade crossings and proposing alternatives are essential steps to solve them. The national technical literature already exist, since the late 1970s, methods of analysis, especially in Brazilian standards, which even today are restricted to the calculation of indicators based on traffic parameters and physical characteristics of the grade crossing, assignable to types of improvement ( road signs ) pre-set to be adopted . To study these methods critically, a survey was conducted of crossings flush with the greatest potential risk of accident and conducted an assessment in a selected grade crossing based on indicators commonly used. Through contextualized discussion of the results, it was concluded that, in fact, the use of these indicators is important to these reviews, but should not be seen as the only alternative in the decision-making processes. It is shown that the methodology for determining the indicators can be enhanced through use of details (causes / contributing factors) contained in the historical records of accidents, resulting in proposals for improvements to be implemented and / or measures to be taken to not deal only with road signs and level of effectiveness that will be directly proportional to the quality of information .