Tag:railway=level_crossing

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Public-images-osm logo.svg railway = level_crossing
Level crossing - Chertsey - England - 270404.jpg
Description
A crossing between a railway and a road. Show/edit corresponding data item.
Rendering in OSM Carto
Level crossing.svg
Group: crossings
Used on these elements
may be used on nodesshould not be used on waysshould not be used on areasshould not be used on relations (except multipolygon relations)
See also
Status: approvedPage for proposal

A level crossing (where a road crosses a railway on the same level; i.e., without a bridge). Some have barriers or gates that are either automatically or manually operated. The automatic ones usually have warning mechanisms: flashing red lights or bells (or both). Some crossings do not have barriers, just the warning lights. Manually operated ones are either operated by the rail company or by the crossing user. If the latter, it may be a requirement to telephone the signal box to check it's safe to cross with a vehicle or farm animals before any gate is opened.

How to map

Use this tag on a node node. The node should be the one common to both the highway and the railway.

Additional tags

Regional variations

North America

An exempt crossing is one at which commercial vehicles (goods=*, hgv=*, bus=*, etc.) may proceed without stopping. This is in contrast to normal crossings, at which commercial vehicles and school buses must come to a complete stop before crossing. Exempt crossings are designated based on strict criteria that differ widely by state or province. Some jurisdictions differentiate between exempt and abandoned (disused) crossings. As of 2021, no exempt crossings are known to have been tagged as such, but see this discussion about how to tag them.

Use crossing:whistle=optional to indicate that the crossing is subject to a quiet zone in the US or whistle ban in Canada, exempting trains from the requirement to blow a horn whenever they cross.

See also