Railroad Crossing Data Subscriptions
Real-Time and Historical Blocked Railroad Crossing Data
Oculus Rail data subscriptions give municipalities, transportation agencies, railroads, and other organizations access to real-time and historical data about blocked railroad crossings.
Understand What Is Happening at Your Railroad Crossings
Blocked railroad crossings can affect traffic flow, emergency response, transit schedules, freight movement, and daily travel. But understanding the extent of the problem requires more than knowing that a train occasionally blocks a road.
Communities need to know which crossings are affected, how frequently blockages occur, how long they last, and when recurring patterns develop.
Oculus Rail collects crossing activity continuously at monitored locations, creating a reliable record that can help agencies move from anecdotal reports to measurable information.
With real-time and historical crossing intelligence, organizations can identify recurring problems, compare locations, evaluate potential solutions, and make infrastructure and transportation decisions based on actual crossing activity.
What Railroad Crossing Data Is Included?
Oculus Rail data subscriptions provide access to detailed information about activity at monitored railroad crossings.
Real-Time Crossing Status
See whether a monitored railroad crossing is currently blocked by a train or clear, providing greater visibility into current crossing conditions.
Blockage Frequency and Duration
Track when each blockage begins, when the crossing clears, and how long the roadway remains blocked. Over time, this creates a historical record of blockage frequency and duration for each monitored crossing.
Time-of-Day and Day-of-Week Patterns
Analyze when crossing blockages occur to identify recurring patterns, peak periods, and times when train activity may have the greatest effect on roadway transportation.
Time-Stamped Crossing Imagery Options Available
Access time-stamped imagery associated with detected crossing events, providing additional context and verification of recorded train activity. * Additional fees may apply.
Historical Railroad Crossing Data
Analyze crossing activity over time to identify trends, compare time periods, evaluate changes in crossing conditions, and measure conditions before and after transportation or infrastructure improvements.
Data Export
Crossing data can be accessed through the Oculus Rail dashboard, exported for analysis and reporting, or integrated with compatible third-party applications.
Built to Monitor Trains — Not People
Oculus Rail uses AI-enabled computer vision for one purpose: detecting train activity at railroad crossings.
The system is not designed to identify or track the people or vehicles that pass through a crossing. Oculus Rail does not use to identify individual drivers, pedestrians, or vehicles.
The focus is the train and the status of the crossing: Is the crossing blocked? When did it become blocked? When did it clear? How long was it blocked?
This approach gives communities useful railroad crossing intelligence without turning the system into a tool for monitoring the people who live, work, or travel nearby.
From Railroad Crossing Data to Better Decisions
Collecting data is only useful if communities can do something with it. Oculus Rail gives agencies a clearer understanding of how railroad crossing activity affects their transportation network.
Data can help transportation planners and local governments identify crossings experiencing frequent or lengthy blockages, evaluate patterns across multiple locations, and determine where additional study or infrastructure investment may be warranted.
Historical information can also provide a baseline for measuring change. Agencies can compare crossing activity before and after infrastructure improvements, operational changes, or other transportation initiatives to better understand their impact.
For communities responding to resident concerns about blocked crossings, objective data also provides something complaints alone cannot: a documented record of what is actually happening at the crossing.
Real Data.
Stronger communities.
Smarter decisions.
Access Railroad Crossing Data Through the Oculus Rail Dashboard
Subscribers can access crossing information through the Oculus Rail online dashboard, providing a central location for monitoring current conditions and reviewing historical crossing activity.
Users can examine individual monitored crossings, review activity over selected periods, identify patterns, and use crossing data for internal analysis, presentations, planning, and reporting.
For organizations that need crossing information outside the dashboard, data can also be exported or made available through the Oculus Rail API for integration with compatible transportation, GIS, traffic management, and other systems.
Who Uses Oculus Rail Data?
Oculus Rail data subscriptions can support organizations responsible for transportation planning, public safety, infrastructure, rail operations, and mobility.
Municipalities & City Managers
Oculus Rail data can help local governments understand the frequency and duration of blocked railroad crossings, respond to resident concerns with documented information, identify problem locations, and prioritize potential transportation and infrastructure improvements. Historical crossing data can also support planning studies, funding applications, and before-and-after analysis of infrastructure investments.
Transportation Agencies & MPOs
Transportation agencies and Metropolitan Planning Organizations can use crossing data to compare conditions across multiple locations, identify recurring blockage patterns, and incorporate railroad crossing activity into regional transportation planning. Historical data can support freight studies, corridor analyses, multimodal planning, project prioritization, and evaluation of proposed transportation improvements.
Public Safety Agencies
Police, fire, EMS, and emergency management agencies can use railroad crossing information to better understand where frequent or lengthy blockages may affect emergency response. Real-time crossing status can provide greater visibility into current conditions, while historical data can help agencies identify recurring blockage patterns and incorporate railroad crossing activity into emergency response planning.
Railroads
Objective crossing data can help railroads understand how train operations interact with roadway transportation at monitored crossings. Historical crossing activity can support collaboration with municipalities and transportation agencies, infrastructure planning, and evaluation of recurring crossing conditions.
Transit Operators & Fleet Managers
Transit agencies and fleet operators can use historical blockage patterns to better understand where railroad crossings affect routes and schedules. Crossing intelligence can support route planning, schedule analysis, and evaluation of delays associated with frequently blocked crossings.
How Oculus Rail Collects Railroad Crossing Data
Oculus Rail collects data using solar-powered, cellular-connected sensors installed near monitored railroad crossings. AI-enabled computer vision identifies when a train blocks the roadway and when the crossing clears, creating a time-stamped record of crossing activity.
The system operates independently without requiring integration with railroad signaling infrastructure, utility power, or a local network connection. Crossing information is transmitted through an LTE cellular connection and made available through the Oculus Rail platform.
Because the system is designed specifically to detect trains and crossing status, it does not require facial recognition, license plate recognition, or the identification or tracking of individual vehicles or people to provide useful crossing data.