I've had two close calls at railroad crossings, both of which I was lucky to tell about the experiences. One was crossing a rail line at 30 mph in an area where there was no warning that one is approaching it and no warning devices at the crossing itself. I barely cleared the crossing when the train passed over it.
The second occurred on a route I ride often. At the railroad crossing, there is no arm that comes down but there are lights and bells that work when a train is very close. Most trains are slow-moving freights that one can see long before passing over the crossing. On one particular day I couldn't see down the tracks and didn't know about the train until my bicycle was directly over the tracks when the bells started to ring.
The engineer was not operating the train at the usual speed but was "high-balling" it.
Here in Maine, as in some other states, improvement is needed in letting people know they are 1) approaching a crossing and 2) warning devices at crossings. What does anyone else say?