Cameras for Caltrain crossings? Pilot program would dissuade drivers from stopping on railroad tracks

In addition to the time-consuming and costly grade separation projects at some of the riskiest intersections, like Broadway in Burlingame, the agency has developed other near-term and long-term strategies to mitigate collisions and fatalities.

Some of the at-grade railroad crossings are getting upgraded with more visible delineators and solar markers and, at the end of 2024, Caltrain partnered with RailSentry — which uses cameras, light detection and ranging, as well as machine learning technology — to mitigate collisions at some of the crossings. The technology uses machine learning to understand what the behavior of vehicles, individuals and pedestrians should look like at a particular intersection. Once a change is detected — usually by Caltrain-developed settings — RailSentry’s monitoring center is alerted, which then notifies Caltrain dispatch.

Caltrain is now in the process of developing a license plate reader pilot along some of the at-grade intersections, which could ticket drivers illegally stopping on the tracks during red lights or congestion-related delays.

“Once we do that, it really gives us an indication of what’s happening at our grade crossings, but we get to educate people as well,” Chief Safety Officer Jerry Guaracino said during the board meeting March 4. “Sending these license plate violations, or ticketing … it really educates the people that are in these cars as well so I think that changes behaviors.”

License plate reader technology has been deployed in many cities throughout the county and state and is frequently used by law enforcement agencies to track fleeing offenders, from retail theft to violent crimes.

As government agencies sign contracts with increasingly advanced technology companies, however, there has also been more scrutiny to ensure the firms continue to use the data appropriately. Data breaches or inappropriate data-sharing has occurred in the Bay Area and statewide, which has given elected officials pause when signing contracts with the private technology firms. For instance, in 2021, Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle was sued after findings surfaced that his agency was providing ALPR data to hundreds of federal and out-of-state agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. An increasing number of concerns led California Attorney General Rob Bonta to issue a legal memo a couple years ago reiterating the ethical uses of ALPR data in response to both advocate concerns and law enforcement pushback.

Board Member Margaret Abe-Koga said she’s been alarmed by some of the data-sharing breaches.

“I would like to request that we do have a detailed procurement strategy to ensure we select the appropriate vendor,” she said during the meeting.

Last October, SamTrans, Caltrain’s managing agency, also approved a four-year, $1.4 million contract toward upgrading its surveillance camera system, which would also include Caltrain stops.

“Having these live-looking capabilities for the corridor is extremely important,” Guaracino said. “It gives us the opportunity to react quicker, faster in the event of emergencies … so I think this is really going to be a game changer for us as we implement this CCTV strategy.”