The Australian level crossing assessment model

The Australian Level Crossing Assessment Model (ALCAM) has been developed as a direct impact of the need to ensure there is a rigorous defensible process in place to prioritise the treatment of disparate level crossings according to their comparative safety risk. ALCAM is an assessment tool designed to prioritise level crossing safety improvement works as well as assisting in the determination of the most effective treatments at these sites, in consideration of factors including cost. The model is a complex scoring algorithm which considers each sites physical properties (characteristics and controls) as well as related human factors (driver/pedestrian behaviour) to provide the sites "Risk Score". This score is then multiplied by the sites "Exposure Rating" (a factor of Vehicles, Trains & Consequence) which enables the comparison of the relative Total Risk Exposure Score across level crossings within a given jurisdiction. This paper outlines the elements which feed into ALCAM and the process of weightings and calculations utilised to determine the model outputs and the risk principles adopted in processing the data. It also looks at the overall process adopted in collecting and inputting data, analysis of the results and utilising these results to support strategies for level crossing safety improvement works.