Traffic Microsimulation Using VISSIM to Improve Traffic Control Measures at Railway Intersection by Preemption System

The study was conducted to gain improvement measures of time control for crossing gates at the intersection of the railroad crossing between Nong Khon Kwang station with highway 216 (Eastern Ring Road), Udon Thani province.  This area has experienced heavy traffic congestion during rush hour because traffic volume has increased every year. In this study, only the gate time issue was highlighted. Traffic microsimulation was carried on by using VISSIM in order to specify the location for installing a detector to detect trains before reaching the railway intersection using preemption system to obtain high suitability and efficiency in gate time control and to reduce the traffic congestion problem.  Compared with the previous measures that the gates were controlled by officers, the results revealed that queue length of vehicles were lower (41%), travel time became shorter (4%), time lost due to delays (13%), and time lost due to being stopped by traffic lights (47%).