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The Gulf & Ohio Railroad System (G&O) recently worked with the state of Alabama to install a grade crossing protection system in Troy, according to an item in the latest issue of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s “Views and News.”

The StopGate™ Vehicle Arresting System features a gate arm that’s deployed using a vertical pivot action, similar to a crossing warning gate. Marketed by Quixote Transportation Safety Inc.’s Energy Absorption Systems Inc., the system also includes a positive locking device at each end of the arm to secure the gate across the roadway. A locking mechanism at the far end of the gate arm is located on the side of the road to prevent vehicles from driving around the gates.

G&O installed the system where State Highway 231 crosses the Conecuh Valley Railroad. The crossing was ideal because “we were constantly in a ‘grit your teeth and hope the flagman doesn’t get hit’ mode” when the short line’s crew flagged a train there, said G&O Senior Vice President Ronnie McKenzie.

“This is the first StopGate installation in the southern U.S., but we firmly believe it won’t be the last,” he said.