In the wake of the death of 13 children in train-school van accident in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre on Thursday said it will eliminate all unmanned level crossings (UMlCs) by March 31, 2020.
Chairman Railway Board Ashwani lohani said till the UMlCs are eliminated, people need to be careful while crossing tracks. “There is no substitute to that. The railways cannot take any step that is completely foolproof against negligence,” he said. He added that no step the national carrier takes could be completely foolproof against negligence of people and urged them to be careful while crossing tracks.
“While crossing UMlCs, the primary responsibility lies with the road user, and not with the railways. The rule while crossing such railway lines is to look both ways, stop and then proceed. In this case, according to reports, the driver did not stop. However, because the accidents happened in our territory, it remains our concern. That's why we are trying to eliminate all unmanned level crossings. In the meantime, I urge people to be careful. Also, please do not use earphones when walking near the railway tracks,” lohani said.
lohani also said the national transporter has been aggressively removing UMlCs -- 1,565 of them were eliminated in 2017-18 and the target is to remove 1,600 in 2018-19. There are currently 3,479 unmanned level crossings on broad gauge of Indian Railways.
He said that the elimination has resulted in the decrease in the number of accidents at such crossings over the years - in 2014-2015, 50 such accidents took place at UMlCs, 29 in 2015-2016, 20 in 2016-2017, 10 in 2017-2018 and one this financial year.
Accidents also took place at manned railway crossings - in 2014-15 and 2015-16, there were six accidents each, in 2016-17 there were no such accidents. In 2017-18, there were three accidents and only one reported this year, according to data provided by the railways.
Presently, there are 5,792 such unmanned and 19,507 manned crossings across the railway network. lohani also said that while till March 31 this year, the railways had completed the work of eliminating most of the unmanned level crossings at the busy stations, work on 44 such stations is going on and will be finished by June.
Sharing prima facie details about the Thursday accident, lohani said there was a rail mitra (rail volunteer) at the spot, who tried to stop the school van, but the driver did not stop, adding that this is the first accident at an unmanned level crossing this year.
The chairman also said that a total of 109 accidents have taken place at unmanned level crossings in the country since 2014-15 and asserted that railways aim to eliminate unmanned level crossings by March 2020.