Railway crossings
A railway crossing, also known as a level crossing, is where a public or private roadway, footpath, or both intersect one or more railway tracks.
Information on this page
Level crossing safety strategy
In November 2009, the Government published a
level crossing safety strategy: Towards Zero. This strategy sets out important initiatives to improve safety and reduce deaths and injuries at level crossings.
Road crossings
As at 31 January 2009 Victoria had 1,872 road level crossings on active rail lines. There are several types of crossings including:
- 924 crossings with Give Way signs
- 402 crossings with flashing lights and warning bells
- 374 with boom barriers
- 145 with stop signs
- 27 with another form of protection such as traffic lights, position markers or interlocked gates
Please note: These figures are based on field assessments of every railway crossing in Victoria and were correct as at July 2009.
The Victorian Government has an annual level crossing upgrade program and these figures will change as crossings are upgraded or closed.
Pedestrian crossings
There are 843 pedestrian railway crossings on active railway lines in Victoria.
Railway pedestrian crossings may be located on one or both sides of a road-rail level crossing or as a 'stand-alone' crossing near a railway station.
There are two types of railway pedestrian crossing protection:
- actively-protected crossings have train-activated mini booms, gates or barriers, audible warnings, line markings and safety signs
- passively-protected crib crossings have a maze and safety signs
Heritage-listed railway crossings
There are three heritage-listed railway crossings in Victoria.
The crossings at Rutherglen in central Victoria and New Street, Brighton Beach in Melbourne have hand operated gates.
The heritage-listed crossing at Lydiard Street in Ballarat is an 'interlocked signal-operated' crossing. A person in the nearby station presses a button to close the gates when a train is approaching. The gates are interlocked with the railway signals so the signals for the train to proceed cannot be operated until they are shut. |  | 
The interlocked signal-operated crossing at
Lydiard Street, Ballarat |
Railway crossing maintenance
The Victorian Government, through its agency VicTrack, owns the land and infrastructure associated with railway crossings.
Public transport operators are responsible for ongoing maintenance of railway crossings. They are:
- Connex for the metropolitan rail network
- V/Line for country rail lines
- Australian Rail Track Corporation for interstate rail lines.
To report a fault with a railway crossing telephone:
- 1800 001 050 for metropolitan railway crossings
- 1800 013 007 for country railway crossings
Both numbers operate 24-hour and are toll-free. They are not emergency numbers and should only be used to report faults at level crossings. For emergencies, telephone 000.