Using Computer Vision to Improve Railway Safety

In an effort to enhance railway safety and prevent accidents, a project was undertaken with the cooperation of Odakyu Electric Railway in Japan, utilizing computer vision technology to detect and respond to potential dangers on train tracks. The primary focus of the project was to address accidents occurring at train stations and level crossings, which are the most common sites for fatalities. By developing a computer vision model capable of identifying people, vehicles, tracks, platforms, and crossings within train video feeds, the system aims to detect imminent dangers and trigger appropriate safety measures, such as braking and sounding alarms. A dataset was created using video footage from a GoPro camera mounted on a passenger train, and the data was labeled and used to train models that achieved significant accuracy improvements over several iterations. The models can detect critical areas and alert train staff when people or vehicles are in unsafe locations, potentially preventing accidents. The project demonstrates the potential of computer vision to provide a cost-effective and rapid solution to railway safety challenges without the need for extensive and expensive infrastructure changes.