In a bid to prevent accidents, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge today announced elimination of all unmanned level crossings in a time-bound manner.
A total of 5,400 unmanned level crossings were eliminated- 2310 by manning and 3090 by closure/merger/construction of road overbridge (ROB) or road underbridge (RUB) during the last five years, Kharge said while presenting his interim rail budget 2014-15.
He said manning or elimination of all unmanned level crossings and provision of ROB/RUBs in lieu of manned level crossings with heavy traffic density in a time-bound manner is a commitment of railways.
There are a total 18,672 level crossings in the country, out of which 12,582 are unmanned.
There will be no level crossings in the dedicated freight corridor to ensure seamless movement of trains.
Kharge's maiden rail budget also mentioned the planning for induction of indigenously-developed train collision avoidance system (TCAS).
Trials of TCAS has been successfully completed on the 200km long Vikrabad-Bidar section.
A safety device designed to prevent train accidents, TCAS is based on a combination of railway signalling data with radio communications, global positioning system, radio frequency identification devices, software and logic.
