crossings, Roy said Railways was duty bound to reduce such cases. He said while there were over 20,000 unmanned crossings in 1995, the number has been brought down to 13,471. Similarly, the number of manned crossings have gone up from 15,436 in 1995 to 18,315 now. Roy said the main thrust would be on construction of road overbridges and underbridges at the unmanned crossings to put a brake on accidents at such places. He said a new railway catering policy is being implemented and hooped the catering services will improve at railway stations and in trains. The minister said a recruitment drive is on to fill 1.40 lakh posts, including those under safety category, in the railways. The process to fill up 12,000 posts in Railway Protection Force (RPF) was also gathering momentum, he said. Referring to the fire near Kurla railway station in Mumbai which led to chaotic scenes, he said the Railways now proposes to switch to Alternate Current (AC) traction system from the present Direct Current (DC) traction. Admitting slow progress in the proposed locomotive factories in Madhepura and Marhora in Bihar, Roy said executing PPP mode projects was a time-consuming affair. He said the capitals of the seven North Eastern states, and Sikkim will be linked with broad gauge network for which the plan has already been approved. The Railway Minister also assured the House that the five-km long Bogibill rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra river will be completed by 2015.
