Interesting Railroad Crossing in La Porte, Indiana

At one time at least a couple more tracks crossed this street (Tipton St). After those tracks were removed, leaving the two-track mainline, the crossing gate/signal was not moved back towards the line. Instead, it was positioned about 50 feet from the tracks. Check out an older Google street view.

A few years ago, major signal upgrades were installed. A quad gate arrangement -- four gates and ten pairs of flashing lights -- were mounted at a proper distance from the tracks. The activation and deactivation sequences are unique. As you can see in the video, main traffic gates are lowered before the opposite two gates come down. After the train has passed, traffic is held up an extra few seconds as the opposite gates are raised first (along with tolling E-bell), then the traffic gates rise.

Records going back over 30 years show four people had died in accidents at this crossing, along with five others injured. So obviously Norfolk Southern and La Porte wanted to add extra protection at this crossing.

Crossing is US DOT 522 595A

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