Remote monitoring of grade crossing warning equipment

摘要

A system (40) and method for remotely monitoring the operating status of railroad grade crossing warning equipment. A sensor (46) generates a signal (48) responsive to the operation of a grade crossing annunciator (42). In one embodiment, the annunciator may be a bell or speaker horn (92) and the sensor may be an accelerometer (99) mechanically coupled to the bell. A wayside controller (52) uses the signal as input for developing information (70) indicative of the operating status of the annunciator. A communications link (74) transmits the information to a location remote from the grade crossing. A system controller (78) located at the remote location may diagnose the information to direct a maintenance center (82) and/or operations center (86) in response to an indication of degraded performance of the annunciator. The communications link may include the Internet and may be used for two-way communication between the remote location and the grade crossing location (22).