Despite a high number of deaths occurring at railway level-crossings across India every year, the Indian Railways has been unable to speed up its elimination of unmanned crossings and believes road users bear greater responsibility in ensuring their safety.
In the past one month itself, the Railways has had two major accidents – with at least 46 fatalities – at different level-crossings. On Monday, 21 members of a single family died near Motihari in Bihar when their autorickshaw crossed the open gate of a manned railway level-crossing, only to be hit by a train bound for Dehradun. Earlier, on July 23, at least 25 children from Medak, Telangana, were killed when a train rammed into their school bus, this time at an unmanned level-crossing.
India has more than 30,300 level-crossings at which vehicles can cross the railway tracks, according to the Indian Railways public relations office. More than 11,000 of these are unmanned crossings. This is where most of the accidents occur.
“Accidents at manned level-crossings are very rare, and we have instituted an inquiry committee to find out what went wrong in the Bihar accident this week,” said Anil Kumar Saxena, the additional director-general for public relations at the Indian Railways. At least three railway officials at the manned crossing near Motihari have been suspended, he said.
Unmanned level-crossings, however, have consistently proved themselves to be dangerous, with close to 500 fatalities recorded in accidents at these sites in just three years.
Drivers are negligent
While acknowledging the need to get rid of unmanned crossings, railway officials put the blame on irresponsible road users who keep flouting the rules laid down in the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 and the Railways Act of 1989. The rules make it clear, they say, that at any intersection between roadways and railways, the trains have right of way, and road users are expected to exercise caution.
“As per the law, the driver of a road vehicle is supposed to get off at an unmanned level-crossing, look on both sides of the line to ensure there is no train coming and only then cross the tracks,” said Anil Bharda, general secretary of the All-India Train Controllers Association.
Train controllers are responsible for managing train traffic on railway grids across the country, and whenever there is an accident at a level-crossing, controllers are among the first to be suspended, says Bharda.
“But the Railways are often unfairly targeted,” he said. Level-crossings are rarely placed along a curve, so an incoming train is often visible from afar. “Most road drivers choose to cross the tracks even if they see a train in the distance, because they underestimate the speed of the train and think they can make it,” Bharda said.
Saxena claims that unmanned crossings are fitted with LED lights and speed breakers, have sign boards to caution drivers and when trains approach an intersection, they are required to whistle. “But what can we do when people are impatient?” he said.
Doing away with unmanned level-crossings
The obvious solution to the problem, given the frequent risk-taking behaviour among road users, is to do away with level-crossings completely, the unmanned ones in particular.
In its budget for 2010-'11, the Railway Ministry announced that it aimed to eliminate all unmanned crossings in five years, either by transforming them into manned crossings, or building either road underpasses or bridges. There were close to 16,000 unmanned crossings across the country at the time. So far, almost 5,000 of them have been done away with.
“With our budget for level-crossings, we can manage to convert an average of just 1,000 crossings every year,” said Saxena. Crossings with higher traffic are given priority.
In many countries around the world, unmanned railway crossings are built with gates that automatically open and close based on signals from the nearest railway stations. But Bharda claims the Indian government is not willing to make that kind of heavy investment.
“Investing in the transformation of level-crossings for public safety does not bring in revenue, and our ministers prefer announcing budgets for new trains every year,” said Bharda.
However, activists believe the Railways could be doing much more to prevent accidents at level-crossings. “One gets the feeling that the Railways is mismanaging their funds,” said Rita Savla, founder of Radhee, a Mumbai-based non-profit that spreads awareness on disaster management and safety. “Why can’t the Railways think of alternate ways to generate funds?”
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
In the past one month itself, the Railways has had two major accidents – with at least 46 fatalities – at different level-crossings. On Monday, 21 members of a single family died near Motihari in Bihar when their autorickshaw crossed the open gate of a manned railway level-crossing, only to be hit by a train bound for Dehradun. Earlier, on July 23, at least 25 children from Medak, Telangana, were killed when a train rammed into their school bus, this time at an unmanned level-crossing.
India has more than 30,300 level-crossings at which vehicles can cross the railway tracks, according to the Indian Railways public relations office. More than 11,000 of these are unmanned crossings. This is where most of the accidents occur.
“Accidents at manned level-crossings are very rare, and we have instituted an inquiry committee to find out what went wrong in the Bihar accident this week,” said Anil Kumar Saxena, the additional director-general for public relations at the Indian Railways. At least three railway officials at the manned crossing near Motihari have been suspended, he said.
Unmanned level-crossings, however, have consistently proved themselves to be dangerous, with close to 500 fatalities recorded in accidents at these sites in just three years.
Drivers are negligent
While acknowledging the need to get rid of unmanned crossings, railway officials put the blame on irresponsible road users who keep flouting the rules laid down in the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 and the Railways Act of 1989. The rules make it clear, they say, that at any intersection between roadways and railways, the trains have right of way, and road users are expected to exercise caution.
“As per the law, the driver of a road vehicle is supposed to get off at an unmanned level-crossing, look on both sides of the line to ensure there is no train coming and only then cross the tracks,” said Anil Bharda, general secretary of the All-India Train Controllers Association.
Train controllers are responsible for managing train traffic on railway grids across the country, and whenever there is an accident at a level-crossing, controllers are among the first to be suspended, says Bharda.
“But the Railways are often unfairly targeted,” he said. Level-crossings are rarely placed along a curve, so an incoming train is often visible from afar. “Most road drivers choose to cross the tracks even if they see a train in the distance, because they underestimate the speed of the train and think they can make it,” Bharda said.
Saxena claims that unmanned crossings are fitted with LED lights and speed breakers, have sign boards to caution drivers and when trains approach an intersection, they are required to whistle. “But what can we do when people are impatient?” he said.
Doing away with unmanned level-crossings
The obvious solution to the problem, given the frequent risk-taking behaviour among road users, is to do away with level-crossings completely, the unmanned ones in particular.
In its budget for 2010-'11, the Railway Ministry announced that it aimed to eliminate all unmanned crossings in five years, either by transforming them into manned crossings, or building either road underpasses or bridges. There were close to 16,000 unmanned crossings across the country at the time. So far, almost 5,000 of them have been done away with.
“With our budget for level-crossings, we can manage to convert an average of just 1,000 crossings every year,” said Saxena. Crossings with higher traffic are given priority.
In many countries around the world, unmanned railway crossings are built with gates that automatically open and close based on signals from the nearest railway stations. But Bharda claims the Indian government is not willing to make that kind of heavy investment.
“Investing in the transformation of level-crossings for public safety does not bring in revenue, and our ministers prefer announcing budgets for new trains every year,” said Bharda.
However, activists believe the Railways could be doing much more to prevent accidents at level-crossings. “One gets the feeling that the Railways is mismanaging their funds,” said Rita Savla, founder of Radhee, a Mumbai-based non-profit that spreads awareness on disaster management and safety. “Why can’t the Railways think of alternate ways to generate funds?”