UNMANNED RAILWAY CROSSINGS – A GATEWAY TO DEATH

UNMANNED RAILWAY CROSSINGS – A GATEWAY TO DEATH
By Vijayabharathi C
Posted online: 24th Apr 2007

Last week after reading the morning newspaper, I became very much anguished over the news of a train accident that happened at an unmanned level crossing in Kanchipuram, 75 km from Chennai. The news of this incident has filled my heart with grief to no extent. This is the second such accident that has happened within a year (the previous one involved a suburban train and an overloaded share auto, resulting in the loss of 17 lives), and that too in the same district. This only shows the apathy and negligence of the government in providing proper railway infrastructure (especially manned level crossings). Eleven people including 9 village administrative officers [VAO] were killed in the gruesome accident, the reason being the van driver misjudged the speed of the train, tried to cross the unmanned level crossing in haste and the van got rammed by the train. According to state government sources, there are totally 1116 unmanned level crossings in the state. All these are open death wells, waiting to swallow people anytime. This also proves that accidents can happen to anybody, anywhere and at anytime. Only proper precautions can prevent them.

If the government truly wanted to prevent such accidents, it should have converted all unmanned crossings to manned ones as soon as the previous major accident involving an unmanned level crossing had occurred in the state, a few months ago. Instead, the government announced hefty solatiums to the kith and kin of the deceased, and chose to pay lip service to improving the railway infrastructure. It has decided to follow the same approach this time also. After the disaster, the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Mr. Karunanidhi, has appealed to the central government to sanction Rs.5000 crore to convert all unmanned crossings to manned ones. If the government is truly concerned about the welfare of its citizen, apart from announcing populist measures like low cost luxury trains (garib rath), it should also allocate more funds for passenger and pedestrian safety and construct subways, over bridges, and manned level crossings wherever possible. Though the announcement of big amounts of money to the families of the deceased cannot be criticized, the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the safety of pedestrians crossing the railway track comes in for sharp censure. Cases in point are the dilapidated, broken and filthy subways and over bridges at many suburban (and urban) railway stations in the state, thereby forcing the people to cross the track directly, putting their lives in great peril. One can only hope and pray that at least after this incident, the government will wake up and swing into action and that such incidents will not be repeated in the future.

Having said that, one cannot entirely find fault with the government for such kind of accidents. The common man also has to partly shoulder the blame. He flouts rules with such impunity that it would put thieves to shame. It would not be an exaggeration to say that even an animal, which is supposedly five-sensed, would have more common sense than the six-sensed human who violates rules. For example, he crosses the railway track at manned level crossings, even if the gate allowing pedestrians to cross is closed, indicating that the train is hardly a few meters away from the crossing. Many a time, he also chooses to travel on the footboard of the train, turning a blind eye to the warning, which states that footboard traveling is a punishable offence, painted on the inner side of the train compartment. As a result, there is a very high risk of the person hanging on the footboard, getting hit by the electric post near the track. Innumerable lives have been lost through this kind of behavior. Driving vehicles rashly (as is the case in this particular accident) and in an inebriated condition is the major cause of not only rail accidents, but also of general accidents worldwide. It also reminds one of the clichéd, but relevant proverb ‘Haste makes Waste’. The government, on its part, has conducted numerous awareness campaigns and has also broadcast various advertisements on TV and radio on the need to be cautious while crossing unmanned level crossings, but to no avail. The public is very keen to disobey the rules laid down by the government, and sometimes takes false pride in doing so. They openly talk about how they violated the rail safety rules and escaped without getting caught, little knowing that they are ultimately fooling themselves in the process. Such people should be heavily fined and if necessary, be put behind bars. The fine should be of the order of a few hundred, to a maximum of a few thousand rupees. Those who feel that the fine amount is high should be reminded that a person’s life is priceless. The government is also probing the possibility of constructing road underpasses at all unmanned crossings. The railway administration has been recently directed to install warning facilities with fluorescent lightings at all unmanned crossings, to aid in the safe movement of vehicles crossing the track after sunset.

All said and done, I would like to conclude by saying that though the government cannot be criticized for providing jobs and financial assistance to the kin of the deceased in an accident, it would be more useful if it could provide the proper infrastructure in addition to the above. I also urge the common man to use an iota of common sense (the presence of which is very uncommon) to prevent such avoidable, man-made accidents in the near future. Let us all hope for and work towards a zero accident rate at all unmanned crossings in the country by next year, by creating awareness among our fellowmen.