Barrhaven rail crossing malfunctioning Tuesday morning

Police officers are directing traffic at a rail crossing at Fallowfield Road that is still malfunctioning Tuesday morning.

The lights at the crossing on Fallowfield Road between Greenbank and Woodroffe began flashing at about 4 a.m. while the gate remained up.The crossing is near the scene of the crossing where anOCTranspobus collided with a Via Rail train Sept. 18, killing six people.

Crews with Railterm, the service provider for Via Rail, had repaired all but one of the lights by 7:50 a.m.But at 7:53 a Via passenger train slowly approached the crossing and after it had passed, many of the malfunctioning lights turned back on and two pedestrian guardrails came down.

While the lights are again off, the guard rails for pedestrians remain down as of 8:30 a.m.

OC Transpo notified Via of the problem when it arose and OC Transpo inspectors are also on site, according to Phil Landry, the city's manager of traffic services.

Police had said earlier Tuesday morning thatOCTranspobuses were detouring around the crossing, but buses appeared to be travelling through the crossing normally, with drivers stopping and looking in both directions before proceeding.

Two weeks ago the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) recommended the city come up with additional measures to ensure buses can stop safely at level crossings after four separate incidents in which passengers reported buses crossed rail lines while the lights were flashing but the gate remained up.

When the crossings are functioning properly, the gates begin to come down about 12 to 15 seconds after the lights begin flashing, and are fully down 22 seconds after the lights begin flashing.

The TSB also recommended OC Transpo and Via Rail come up with standard operating procedures for when automated crossings malfunction after another incident in which the lights stayed on and one gate remained closed after a train went by.