TN train-van collision: Experts say Railways should expedite manned level crossings removal

New Delhi, Jul 8 (PTI) The passenger train-school van collision at a non-interlocked manned level crossing gate in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district that left three students dead has brought back into focus the safety hazards at railway level crossings -- both for road users as well as train operations.

Just over a fortnight ago, on June 22, a goods train collided with an E-Rickshaw at one of the manned level crossing (LC) gates between Karanpura and Mandawar Mahwa Road railway station in Rajasthan, causing a delay in train services.

A section of experts said that the Railways should expedite the elimination of manned level crossings with road-over-bridge/road-under-bridge (ROB/RUB) or interlocked systems so that the possibility of any human error resulting in accidents should be minimised.

They said that there is no denying the fact that accidents have significantly come down at level crossings due to the elimination of all unmanned level crossing gates by 2019. However, in the last three years, the Railways failed to achieve its target of constructing road-over-bridge/road-under-bridge to replace manned level crossings.

The Railway Ministry has blamed non-cooperation from the respective state governments for the delay in building ROB/RUB to replace manned LC gates.

For instance, in the case of Tuesday’s collision in Cuddalore district, the Southern Railway said in a statement that an underpass has already been sanctioned on the said LC gate with full railway funding, but the permission for it has not been given by the district collector for the last one year.

The gatekeeper has been suspended and arrested on charges of criminal negligence, it said.

“As on 01.04.2024, there were 17,083 manned level crossings, out of which 497 manned level crossings have been eliminated up to January, 2025,” the Railway Ministry has told the Standing Committee on Railways (2024-25) on the “Demands for Grants (2025-26)" of the ministry presented to the parliament on March 10, 2025.

“With the current rate of elimination of manned level crossings, it will take decades to complete the process.

"ROBs/RUBs are the ideal replacement of manned LCs. However, if there are issues related to interaction/approvals from the state governments and the interlocking systems are likely to make faster implementation, priorities should be identified,” Sudhanshu Mani, veteran railway professional and creator of Train 18 and Vande Bharat Express, told PTI.

He added, "Busy crossings should be taken up for ROB/RUB provision and those which are not likely to be covered early should be covered by installation of interlocking as a medium-term stop gap measure. Funds are not a problem today. Execution must be stepped up in this safety-related area.” Shailendra Kumar Goel, former Director General of Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications, agreed with Mani, saying, “Safety at the Level Crossing Gates continues to be an area of major concern." "Therefore, the elimination of level crossings by closure or by the provision of ROBs/RUBs or protection by means of interlocking should be accorded highest priority to improve the safety,” he said.

In the interlocked system, signals, points and other track apparatus are interconnected to prevent conflicting train movements. Officials said that interlocked LC gates also need a gatekeeper to open and close them, depending on the train operations. However, if the gate is opened, the signal aspect turns red, preventing trains from operating at that time.

The data, presented by the Railway Ministry to the Committee, showed that in 2021-22, it set the target to close 1,000 level crossings but could do only 867. In the next financial year, 2022-23, it could eliminate 860 LC gates against the target of 1000.

The progress suffered further in 2023-24 as it set a target to remove 1100 LC gates, but could achieve only 784. The rate of closure of LC gates slowed down even further in 2024-25, as against the target of 1100, it could do away with only 497 LC gates by January 2025.

So far as the building of ROBs/RUBs is concerned, against the target of 1100 in 2021-22, it could achieve 994 constructions.

In 2022-23, it went beyond the target of 1000 and constructed 1067 ROBs/RUBs.

In 2023-24, it was 1078 constructions against the target of 1100. The progress report in 2024-25 showed 827 constructions till January 2025 against the target of 1100.

Asked about the reasons behind not meeting the targets, the Ministry had told the committee, “Completion & commissioning of ROB/RUB works depends on various factors like cooperation of state governments in giving consent for closure of LC, fixing of approach alignment, approval of General Arrangement Drawing (GAD), land acquisition, removal of encroachment, shifting of infringing utilities," etc.

It also cited statutory clearances from various authorities, law and order situation in the area of the project and the duration of working season in a year for the particular project due to climatic conditions as among the factors.

“All these factors affect the completion time of the projects/works. Therefore, it is not feasible to fix definite timelines for completion of ROB/RUB works,” the Ministry had added. PTI JP RT