Villa Park hears sensor proposals for rail crossings as staff advances grade-separation engineering

Two technology vendors told the Village of Villa Park on Monday that they can deliver real‑time data and mobile alerts to shorten delays and improve emergency response at railroad crossings, while village staff reported progress on engineering for a long‑planned grade‑separation project.

Barry Carta, cofounder and CEO of Corey Railway Group, described a low‑cost sensor that records each train’s passage, speed, length and the percent of time crossings are blocked. “This sensor has the ability to collect date and time of any passage of any train going on the line,” Carta said, adding his firm will produce customizable data reports municipal staff can use for grant applications or planning.

Kurt Brandt, chief executive officer of Linked Things, told trustees his company’s multi‑sensor units (lidar, radar, magnetometer, camera, audio and vibration sensors) feed a cloud service that supports three apps: an audio‑first “in‑cab” app for emergency responders, a dispatch map for incident coordination, and a community app for residents. “One of the things that we’ve done studies like…