Design and development of a train railway line crossing alert system for road users in Kampala industrial area

Abstract

The construction of the Uganda railway line was started in 1890s and completed in 1901 during the British colonial role and it was so active during their era. But after Uganda getting its independence, its use decline. But in 2000s the use of railway line became a need majorly to transport heavy cargo from the coast of East Africa to Uganda and this led to reopening of the old railway lines and opening of new ones. But there are so many challenges that came along with this. This research specifically looks at getting a possible solution for the challenges that came along with grade/level crossing which came as a result of a rail crossing the road creation. It is was that level crossings of rail and roads pose potential danger to roads users in Kampala industrial area. Due to the ever-increasing number of grade crossing through opening of more railway lines in the country and increase in vehicles daily, it was seen that there is a need for be a better mechanism to ensure safety of the road user while crossing the railway line. The main aim of this project was to develop an automated alert level/grade crossing system that would prevent accident between trains and road users. From the railway level crossing point of view, the requirement to be met by such protections is quite simple: it has to stop all road users before passing of a train. A special attention was paid on IR sensor which are used to detect the incoming train. Two sensors used are located before and also after the level crossing. On the other hand, the system comprises of other warning devices such as automatic road block, LED flashing lights and the alarm device and a microcontroller. Microcontroller was used as the controller to execute all the signals and programs. Road block closing time will be optimized based on the position.