Title - All along, skull and crossbones

Sunday’s accident at Aroor underscores the dire need to have fewer unmanned level crossings in Thiruvananthapuram railway division, particularly in the Alappuzha region, Railway Divisional Manager Rajesh Agrawal told The Hindu .He said Railways would accelerate its attempts to convert 40 of the 80 unmanned crossings in the division into manned gates.The rest might have to be closed down. Alappuzha had more than 100 of the 390 level crossings in the division, 24 of them unmanned.“Many unmanned level crossings are very close to each other. We are working with the local bodies and the district administrations to try to link the roads leading to some level crossings with those to the next crossings. The increased traffic density on those roads will consequently justify underpasses or overbridges,” Mr. Agrawal, who was on the way to the accident site, said.In August, he said, Railways held discussions with the District Collector of Alappuzha on these plans. The necessity of closing down a number of unmanned level crossings was discussed in detail.Similar discussions had been held at the government level.A recent study by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre stressed the need to reduce the number of level crossings.Railways would work to have more manned level crossings in the division. Already, 20 crossings had been so upgraded. This year, Railways would attempt to “double this number,” Mr. Agrawal said.

Accidents at level crossings can even derail trains. Such incidents had happened elsewhere in the country.