Narrative:

We were given a clearance to line up and wait as the preceding aircraft began its takeoff roll then proceeded into position on the runway. As the preceding aircraft lifted off; we were given our takeoff clearance. After verifying the runway heading; I transferred the controls to my first officer and he initiated the takeoff by advancing the thrust levers and calling; 'check thrust.' I moved my hand to the thrust levers and scanned the engine instruments. After verifying thrust and other indications; I called; 'thrust set.' at this point; I returned my attention to the runway and was surprised to see the red runway status lights along the center line were illuminated. I looked down the runway to see if there was any threat and saw none. I thought that perhaps the lights had remained on from the departure of the previous aircraft and was considering rejecting the takeoff when the lights extinguished. From the time I first noticed the lights being on until they went out was only about 2 or 3 seconds. With the lights having gone out and no known threat; I elected to continue the takeoff which was completed normally. Later in the flight; we discussed the incident. My first officer confirmed that the lights were off when we began our takeoff roll and came on for only a few seconds.both pilots were surprised and confused by the lights coming on when they did. I'm not sure if this was a malfunction of the automated rwsl [runway status lights] system or if perhaps the system properly detected an aircraft rapidly approaching the runway at an intersection down field. If this was not a malfunction and was caused by a rapidly approaching taxiing aircraft; further events could be reduced through pilot education.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ERJ-175 flight crew reported Runway Status Lights unexpectedly activated momentarily during their takeoff roll.

Narrative: We were given a clearance to line up and wait as the preceding aircraft began its takeoff roll then proceeded into position on the runway. As the preceding aircraft lifted off; we were given our takeoff clearance. After verifying the runway heading; I transferred the controls to my FO and he initiated the takeoff by advancing the thrust levers and calling; 'Check thrust.' I moved my hand to the thrust levers and scanned the engine instruments. After verifying thrust and other indications; I called; 'Thrust set.' At this point; I returned my attention to the runway and was surprised to see the red runway status lights along the center line were illuminated. I looked down the runway to see if there was any threat and saw none. I thought that perhaps the lights had remained on from the departure of the previous aircraft and was considering rejecting the takeoff when the lights extinguished. From the time I first noticed the lights being on until they went out was only about 2 or 3 seconds. With the lights having gone out and no known threat; I elected to continue the takeoff which was completed normally. Later in the flight; we discussed the incident. My FO confirmed that the lights were off when we began our takeoff roll and came on for only a few seconds.Both pilots were surprised and confused by the lights coming on when they did. I'm not sure if this was a malfunction of the automated RWSL [Runway Status Lights] system or if perhaps the system properly detected an aircraft rapidly approaching the runway at an intersection down field. If this was not a malfunction and was caused by a rapidly approaching taxiing aircraft; further events could be reduced through pilot education.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.