Title - Railways won’t man accident-prone crossing

Nakodar: The unmanned railway crossing at Mouwal village could not be manned as the survey conducted by the Railways found that the daily vehicular traffic at the crossing is much less than the required limit.NC Goyal, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur division, said the Railways could man only those unmanned railway crossings where daily vehicular traffic was around 6,000 vehicles (including two and four wheelers).But in this case, the survey conducted by the Railways found that the daily vehicular traffic on this crossing was 1,200 vehicles only, he added.However, he said for a precautionary measure, the road alongside the railway track would be metalled soon.The demand for manning the railway crossing grew stronger after there was an accident between a DMU and a car. One died and two others were injured in the accident on Tuesday.Immediately after the accident, villagers blocked the rail tracks for four hours demanding manning of the crossing.In a similar incident on September 12, 2011, three schoolchildren of Malawi Devi School in Nakodar were killed when the van in which they were travelling was hit by the DMU train heading from Lohian to Ludhiana at the same unmanned railway crossing at Mouwal village.Then also the villagers had staged a dharna on this railway track demanding immediate manning of the crossing.