New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) The Indian Railway will launch Tuesday a 7-day safety drive to educate people on negotiating unmanned level crossings.
‘The number of unmanned level crossing accidents occurring on Indian Railways is a cause of concern,’ said a railway ministry statement, adding that out of 35,363 the railway’s level crossings, 17,954 are unmanned, giving rise to accidents, primarily due to inadequate precautions by the road users.
It said that though the train accidents at unmanned level crossings have marginally reduced in last five years – from 65 in the year 2005-06 to 62, the fatalities in level crossing accidents accounted for nearly 74 percent of all train accident fatalities in India in 2009-10.
The launch of 7-day safety drive is to coincide the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD), which the International Union Of Railways has slated for June 22 this year.
The Indian Railway is presently engaged in building road over bridges and under bridges besides limited-height sub-ways at busy railway crossings to enhance their safety, the statement said, adding that it built a total of 249 over or under bridges and subways in 2009-10.
It will build many more such bridges and subways in fiscal 2010-11, the statement said.
