Challenge & Solution

Challenge: Designing pedestrian overpasses above active rail corridors requires strict compliance with safety standards, particularly around overhead electrical infrastructure and the risk of objects or liquids entering the rail environment. Traditionally, these risks are mitigated by increasing the height of overpasses, resulting in larger, more expensive structures with greater visual and physical impact.

Queensland Rail needed a solution that could maintain the highest safety standards, preventing throwables, liquid hazards, and electrical risks, while avoiding excessive overpass heights. The challenge was to find a screening system that could effectively mitigate these risks, enable a reduction in structural height, and integrate within a complex construction environment with tight installation windows over live rail lines.

Solution: The installation of Crimsafe screens addressed various safety aspects and set new standards for railway bridges and pedestrian overpasses. Crimsafe’s anti-electrification, anti-throw, and anti-streaming qualities protect the public from electrocution hazards from train wires, resulting in reductions in overpass height requirements and material requirements. Additionally, high visibility through Crimsafe screens in well-lit environments ensures commuters’ safety by allowing them to see and be seen clearly. The project required the delivery of 300 custom screens, with 80% featuring raked, cut-out, or out-of-square frames. Precise installation timing over railway lines posed a challenge.