Haryana to get rid of unmanned Railway Crossings

Chandigarh, Feb 2 (IANS) All unmanned railway crossings in Haryana will be done away with, said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Monday.

He said that this would be done by progressively constructing limited height subwayw (LHS) or by converting them into manned crossings to reduce accidents and loss of life.

The Haryana government has asked the railways authorities to provide planning for the manning of all level crossings in the state.

Haryana has 119 unmanned level crossings falling under Northern Railway out of which 89 could be eliminated by construction of LHS, three by merger or diversion and two due to low Train Vehicle Units (TVU), said a state government spokesman.

Out of 68 unmanned level crossings falling under North Western Railway, he said that 37 could be eliminated by construction of LHS, 19 by merger with other manned crossings and 12 by way of manning.

"The state government has already consented for construction of 68 LHS out of railway funds. As many as 65 railway over bridges (RoBs) or railway under bridges (RuBs) have been completed on busy level crossings in the state and 28 similar are in progress. 32 RoBs or RuBs are in pipeline which would be taken up in near future," the spokesman said.