Google Maps to add rail crossings
After a sharp increase in the number of rail crossing accidents last year, the Federal Railroad Administration plans to announce a new partnership with Google Inc. on Monday to provide the locations of all grade crossings in the company’s popular map application.
Google has agreed to include information from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s vast database to pinpoint every rail crossing in the country in Google Maps. Google will also add audio and visual alerts to the app for when drivers use the turn-by-turn navigation feature.
There are about 130,000 public and 85,000 private grade, or level, crossings across the country. The number of accidents at crossings had declined more than 80 per cent, to about 2,000 a year in recent years from about 12,000 a year in the 1970s. But last year, the number rose by 9 per cent.
This upswing has prompted the railroad agency to seek new ways to stem the longstanding hazard through technology. Last year, 270 people died in highway-rail collisions, up from 232 the previous year, and 843 people were injured, according to federal safety statistics.
Grade-crossing accidents are the second-highest cause of rail fatalities after trespassing accidents, which killed 533 people last year.
Drivers are increasingly reliant on their smartphones for directions, and major tech firms — including Google, Apple and Facebook — have developed location-based services that make the most of their capabilities. Google has been a pioneer in mapping, and its mobile app is one of the most popular maps for Android phones and iPhones.
The partnership with Google is likely to precede other announcements. The agency said it had also reached out to four other digital mapmakers — Apple, MapQuest, TomTom and Garmin — to include similar features on their apps or mapping devices.
Grade-crossing accidents are generally caused by driver inattention and error, according to the rail regulator. In many instances, there are no gates or blinking lights to warn drivers about an oncoming train — just a crossing sign or a crossbuck (a white “X’’ marked with the words “railroad crossing”).
No date has been given for when the crossing information will be available on Google Maps, but Department of Transportation officials say the company has made the project a priority.
“We’re happy to help the Federal Railroad Administration as we’re always looking for new ways to make maps useful to our users,” Mara Harris, a Google spokeswoman, said.
The Department of Transportation has developed its own app, called the Rail Crossing Location Mobile Application, that provides drivers with a catalogue of all crossing locations. But the app does not alert drivers when they are about to cross over tracks. It is also not used much. The same data found on this app would also be used by Google and others.