To make rail tracks safe in city, police review security at 20 level-crossings
New Delhi: After the Amritsar train mishap in October, where a crowd of Dusshera revellers were run over while watching the burning of the Ravana effigy, various security agencies including Delhi Police recently held a meeting in which safety measures related to level-crossings were discussed. Police claimed that to review the security arrangements, they recently checked out 20 level crossings in the city.
Meanwhile, the police claimed that soon through social media application group, officials from Railway Safety Control Unit, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Delhi Police will stay connected. "During the patrolling of tracks if anything found suspicious by Delhi Police or RPF team, a message can be given on the group to alert authorities and if required train coming on the track can be timely stopped," a police officer said. Sources in Delhi Police claimed that during the safety audit of 20 level-crossing in the national capital, it was found that all were manned. In 17 crossings, we found the presence of 17 persons one in each whereas in three crossing six persons were guarding two each. During the meeting, a discussion was held on increasing the manpower at different crossings," police said.
Moreover, the data on accidental deaths within railway police jurisdiction – accessed by the Millennium Post – stated that in 2016, 816 men and 82 women lost their lives in rail accidents. Last year, the numbers were 790 persons (695 men and 95 women. This year, till August 7, as many as 492 casualties – 457 men and 35 women – were reported. In one such case, on October 16, a man was killed and five others injured after they were hit by an EMU train while crossing a closed level-crossing in Ghaziabad. In September Chairman Railway Board, Ashwani Lohani held a detailed safety performance review meeting of the Indian Railways with all Railway Board Members and General Managers of Zonal Railways and Chairman and Managing Director, Konkan Railway through video conferencing.
He directed the Zonal Railways to further improve the performance and meet all the standards of safety and to complete related infrastructure works like track renewal, doubling of busy sections, laying new lines to ease pressure on the existing ones.
