Railroad Crossing Signals

Source Researchers installed railroad crossing signals for wild animals in Banff National Park. Bells rang and lights flashed 30 seconds before each train arrived. Grizzly bears, elk, wolves, and coyotes fled the tracks 62 percent earlier at sites with the warning system than at sites without it, gaining an extra 360 feet of distance between themselves and the incoming train. The animals were not trained. Nobody conditioned them. The system was installed, the bells started ringing, and the animals figured out what the sound meant on their own. Jonathan Backs, a PhD candidate in engineering and biological sciences at the University of Alberta, built the device. It is a small box bolted to the rail that detects an approaching train through vibration and changes in the magnetic field. When the sensors fire, the box triggers flashing lights and a bell sound at a location farther down the track where wildlife has been documented using the rail corridor. The warning begins 30 seconds before…