A place where a road (or, rarely in this country, a railway) crosses a railway line at the same level. Road level crossing gates were required by law from the very outset of railways, and a railway would not be authorised without the requirement to fence the line and provide gates and attendants. Many level crossings on important lines were later replaced by overbridges. Lifting barriers began to replace hinged gates in the 1950s and the first automatic half-barrier level crossing was introduced in 1961. Despite modernisation and closures there are still many hundreds of gated crossings extant today.

grade crossing, railroad crossing

The term level crossing (also called a railroad crossing, railway crossing, train crossing or grade crossing) is a crossing on one level ("at-grade intersection") — without recourse to a bridge or tunnel — of a railway line by a road, path, or another railroad. It also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way (or a reserved track tramway) crosses a road; the term "metro" usually means that there are no level crossings (i.e., that the system is grade-separated).