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Yes, the situation I was describing would have a train standing short of a pedestrian crossing, but close enough to have activated the warning signals.  When I say they are activated for no reason, I mean their activation serves no purpose.  But worse than that, the activation by the standing train amounts to a false alarm, and if another through train approaches, the false alarm of the standing train will become a true alarm with no perceptible indication of the change.  That is a major danger.   <o:p></o:p> That danger is the reason behind the “Second train coming” warning that they have recently developed.  That is basically a second alarm in addition to the false alarm of the standing train.  That second alarm, which is a true alarm, enables pedestrians to distinguish the true alarm from the false alarm.  <o:p></o:p> The first thing that occurred to me would be to simply not give false alarms.  You could accomplish that by a switching system whereby a stopped train could shut off its contribution to the alarm activation.  I don’t know how you would accomplish that switch, but there must be many possible ways to do it.  <o:p></o:p> However, the danger of a false alarm from a train standing on one of multiple tracks is not much different than the danger of a real alarm being triggered simultaneously by more than one approaching train.  So, overall, the “Second train coming” warning is probably the best remedy.  Although, even with the “Second train coming” warning applied to a crossing, eliminating the false alarms of a standing train would add safety.  This is because it would leave the “Second train coming” warning to address only the real dangers of multiple approaching trains, rather than including the false alarm for standing trains.  <o:p></o:p> The situation with road grade crossings is a little different than with pedestrian crossings at stations.  Road grade crossings are either open or closed to through traffic on the road.  Station crossings can be closed to pedestrians by the very train that a pedestrian needs to board, and that closure can prevent them from boarding.  This problem is the heart of the proposed Illinois law, and it does indeed seem like a problem that needs fixing.  The only question is whether the proposed law is the best fix.
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