Elimination of unmanned level crossings: Yesterday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal held a review meeting following the death of 13 school children in Kushinagar train-school van accident. During the meeting, it was decided that unmanned level crossings (UMLC) across the railways will be eliminated on a priority basis. The review meeting was done in the presence of GMs of five critical zones (NR, WR,NER, NWR, ECR) with significant number of UMLCs. According to railway ministry, to increase accountability and public monitoring, progress of elimination of UMLCs will also be shared online through a website. The review meeting was started with a 2 minute silence in the memory of the victims.
In order to eliminate the remaining UMLCs which will include manning of UMLCs, construction of Railway Over Bridges, Railway Under Bridges (RUBs), diversion, etc, a multipronged strategy is now being planned by railway ministry, which will be carried out through simultaneous execution of work on track sections. The tragic Kushinagar train-school van accident shook the entire nation. While addressing the media, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani said that a rail mitra (rail volunteer) who was present at the spot, tried to stop the school van. Even after his attempt to stop the school van, the driver did not stop. To eliminate UMLCs in 11 zones, the ministry has targeted September 2018. Also, targets for the remaining 5 zones will be set shortly.
Last year, after Piyush Goyal took charge as the Railway Minister, a meeting on safety was held on September 7, 2017. In the meeting it was directed that all UMLCs be removed in the next one year in a mission mode. In this regard, significant progress had been made with only 58 UMLCs remaining on the A, B and C routes which account for more than 80 per cent of the Indian Railways traffic.
Many steps have been taken by the the national transporter, in order to reduce accidents at ULMCs. In the last four years, there has been 79 per cent reduction in UMLC accidents as 47 accidents in 2013-14 reduced to 10 in 2017-18. Over the last four years, the average rate of elimination of UMLCs has also increased by nearly two thirds. According to Railway Ministry, now only 3,479 UMLCs remain on the Broad Gauge network.