International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Vedikola Amarnadh Reddy , Lakshmanan.S
Abstract: Railway level crossings remain one of the most critical accident-prone zones in transportation infrastructure worldwide. This paper presents the design and implementation of an IoT-based Smart Railway Level Crossing Safety System that integrates ultrasonic obstacle detection, GPS-based train tracking, GSM-based SMS alerting, and servo motor-controlled automated gate management. The proposed system continuously monitors the crossing gate area using an ultrasonic sensor. When a vehicle becomes stranded inside the gate, the system detects the obstacle and triggers a sequence of intelligent responses: automatic gate opening via a servo motor to allow the vehicle to escape, real-time SMS alerts transmitted to the locomotive driver's mobile device, and visual warnings displayed on the train engine control panel. Furthermore, GPS coordinates of the approaching train are tracked at predefined thresholds — at 3 km, the gate opens proactively; at 2 km and 1 km, escalating alerts are issued. Simulation and hardware prototype testing confirmed a system response time of under 1.5 seconds for gate actuation and SMS delivery. The proposed system significantly reduces the risk of train-vehicle collisions at unmanned and semi-manned level crossings.
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