The Indian Railways has achieved its target of eliminating all unmanned level crossings (UMLC) on its network. Except for one in the Allahabad division, as many as 3,478 of these crossings have been eliminated in the last one year.
They have either closed the UMLCs where very few trains pass, merged them with a nearby manned crossing, built an RUB (road under bridge) or a subway or converted it into a manned level crossing.
An official stated that, “In 2009-2010, only 930 were eliminated, the number went up to 1,253 in 2015-2016 and in the last year, 3,478 have been eliminated across all zones. In the last seven months, progress improved more than five times as compared to the last years.”
Sources mentioned that the last UMLC, which is in Uttar Pradesh, has not yet been eliminated due to local resistance.
Over the last few years, the Railways had made it a priority to make its operations safer for passengers. Consequently, deaths at such crossings have steadily decreased.
