If you cannot remove the damaged vehicle from the tracks, are you required to alert the train driver about the potential danger?

The question is about a situation in which a broken-down vehicle cannot be removed from the tracks. You are then obliged to warn the train driver of the danger. The answer is: yes.

The Road Traffic Act states that if a vehicle comes to a standstill on a level crossing, the driver is obliged to remove it from the level crossing immediately, and if this is not possible - to warn the driver of the rail vehicle of the danger. The order is important: first you try to drive or push the car off the tracks, and only when this is impossible do you move on to warning. Warning means an action which the train driver will see from far away: you lead the passengers away from the tracks, and you yourself walk or run along the tracks in the direction from which a train may come, and give signals - you wave something brightly coloured, at night a torch or a phone; at the same time you call 112 and give the number of the level crossing from the yellow sticker on the St Andrew's cross or on the barrier drive - the traffic controller (dyżurny ruchu) can stop trains remotely. A train needs several hundred metres to brake, so every second gained for the train driver matters.

Legal basis: Art. 28 para. 4 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)