Team Herald
NEW DELHI: Gujarat has the highest number of 1895 unmanned railway level crossings, 791 of the on the broad gauge lines, 601 on the metre gauge and 503 on the narrow gauge as against a total of 7701 such crossing in the country.
Uttar Pradesh tops in terms of the highest 904 unmanned crossings on the broad gauge lines and comes only next to Gujarat with a total of 1112 such crossings, 206 of them on metre gauge and two on narrow gauge.
Other states with a large number of unmanned crossings that have been cause of many fatal accidents are: Bihar 809, Rajasthan 804, Tamil Nadu 444, West Bengal 429, Madhya Pradesh 382, Maharashtra 268 and Karnataka 253. In Rajasthan, 472 of them are on the broad gauge lines, 281 on metre gauge and 52 on narrow gauge.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said, in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha by Ripun Bora on Friday, the save movement on the level crossings has been put entirely on the road users under both Motor Vehicle Act and Indian Railway Act, but the Railways is trying to eliminate the unmanned crossings on the broad gauge lines proactively through closure, merger or manning while some will be handles by deploying the “Gate Mitras.” He, however, did not set a time limit for eliminating the crossings causing the death spells.
The unmanned crossings on the metre and narrow gauge lines will, however, be eliminated only during the gauge conversion, he said, adding that the Railways has been carrying out public awareness campaigns to educate the road users while joint ambush checks along with police are carried out to counter misadventures in front of the approaching trains.
