Railways eliminates all unmanned level crossings from 4 zones

Indian Railways, track

The railways has eliminated all unmanned level crossings from four zones this month, well on its way to remove all such crossings in 11 of its zones by September 2018, ministry officials said today.

West Central Railway, Central Railway, Eastern Railway and South East Central Railway aggregating 11,545 route kilometers have now become Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLC) free on broad gauge route, they said.

As of January 1, 2018, 3,479 UMLC on broad gauge routes have been planned for elimination by September this year with a few exceptions.

All UMLC on routes having speed more than 100 kmph and on suburban routes have been eliminated so far, except 13 such crossings in South Central Railway which will be completed by July 2018, the officials said.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, in his first meeting after taking charge, had directed that all UMLC be eliminated in the next one year. He had set the target of September 2018 for eliminating unmanned level crossings in 11 zones.

For the remaining zones, the target is to eliminate such UMLC before 2020, officials said.

In 2017-18, the cash-strapped transporter showed its best ever performance by eliminating — closing or manned — 1,565 such crossings.

The target for 2018-19 is 1,500 crossings, they added.