Title - At two Rly crossings, it’s trouble for gatemen

The gatemen of railway crossings at Sudna East and Singra are a harassed lot. Impatient people abuse them, both verbally and physically, for keeping the gate closed for long durations.Sources said these two railway crossing gates have no signal protection. Indian Railways gives signal protection to crossings where road traffic is heavy. Railways Traffic Inspector (TI) in Daltonganj Arvind K Sinha said agreed that it was an unhappy situation.He said that due to manual manning of these gates, they were bound to remain closed for 13 to 14 minutes for a train to pass. Thought the duration was longer, but it was inevitable. Sinha explained that if a train leaves Rajhara Station for Daltonganj, these railway crossing gates must be closed and it takes nearly quarter of an hour for a passenger train to reach.The gates have to be closed until the train is at Daltonganj and this generates impatience. Pedestrians find their own way of crossing while motorcyclists pressurise gatemen to open them, he added.