The South East Central Railway (SECR) is planning to eliminate all unmanned Railway level-crossing under its jurisdiction by March 2017, a move to ensure public safety.
An action plan has also been chalked out by SECR to gradually eliminate all unmanned level-crossing by 2017.
“As many as 65 unmanned level crossings in SECR will be eliminated by March 2016, of which 10 fall in Bilaspur Division, 11 in Raipur Division and 44 in Nagpur Division. These unmanned railway level crossing will be replaced with construction of Railway Over Bridges (ROBs), Railway Under Bridges (RUBs) and limited Height Subways (lHSs),” said Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) R K Agrawal, adding that remaining unmanned level crossing in the zone will gradually be eliminated by March 2017.
“Objective behind eliminating unmanned level crossing is safety of people and avert untoward accident,” he added.
“Around 48 unmanned level-crossing is falling in Raipur Division and efforts are underway to eliminate it by 2017,” stated Public Relation Officer (PRO) Raipur Division Ratan Basak.
According to a senior Railway officer, Section 161 of Railway Act, 1989 clearly states that any persons driving or leading a vehicle negligently while crossing an unmanned level crossing shall be punishable with imprisonment that may extent up to one year.
At most of the level crossing, warning and stop boards have been installed on either side to alert commuters and motorists, but people often ignore these warnings and cross Railway crossing even when the train is approaching, leading to a collision and casualty.
It is to be mentioned here that Railways plans to eliminate a total of 3438 level crossings at a cost of Rs 6581 crore. During 2015-16 fiscal year, 970 ROBs, RUBs and other safety related works would be taken up to eliminate 3438 level crossing, said Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu while presenting budget in lok Sabha. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has also been signed with Ministry of Road Transport and Highway.
The Officer further explained that Indian Railways has targetted to remove all the level crossings on its route as these crossings are not only causing safety problems but also create operational hindrances. The unmanned crossings will be removed by constructing lHSs, RUBs and ROBs. Accidents at level crossing gates have been a cause of concern for Railway authority especially at the unmanned level crossings gates.
In order to prevent these incidents, Railways frequently launches special awareness campaign. Besides, several campaigns through newspapers, TV and radio are also being organised. Street plays are also organised to spread awareness about the safety measures to be taken at unmanned crossings.
The public awareness campaign has also been taken to counsel villagers, educational institutions and road users and make them aware of the provision of Motor Vehicles Act and Railway Act by distributing posters, pamphlets, handbills in gram panchayats, markets, petrol pumps and other public places.