Railways to blame

The ghastly train-school bus collision at an unmanned level crossing at Masaipet in Medak district near Hyderabad last week killing 18 people including 16 children should open the eyes of the railway authorities at least now.

Manned level crossings should be the basic priority of the authorities. Local people have said they have made several representations to the senior railway officials which have fallen on deaf ears to make the crossing a manned one. The authorities, who ignored the pleas from the people, should be blamed for the killing of the innocent school children.

It is appalling that railway minister D V Sadananda Gowda, instead of owning up responsibility, has, while speaking in Parliament, blamed the bus driver saying he latter “did not stop the vehicle as prescribed in Section 131 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.” You cannot point finger at some one when the buck stops with you, Mr Minister. Safety of the people comes first and there should be no compromise on it at all. 

It is despicable that scores of people get killed at unmanned crossings for railway ministry’s negligence. According to estimates made by the railways itself, mishaps at level crossings account for 40 per cent of train accidents and 66 per cent of fatalities.

The Medak mishap takes the total number of people killed at level crossing collisions to 71 within four months since in April this year as against 204 in 2011-12. A total of 723 people lost their lives in accidents at level crossings in the last five years which exemplifies the dire need for the authorities to turn all unmanned crossings to manned ones. 

It is shocking how, despite gruesome accidents happening at regular intervals at unmanned level crossings for decades, there are still thousands which remain to be manned. According to the railways, out of the 30,348 level crossings, around 40 per cent or 11,563 are still unmanned. How come the authorities have left so many still unmanned? How many more accidents should take place and innocents die? How much does it cost after all to make them manned?

The authorities should not only look at constructing railway over or under bridges at crossings but make them manned ones which will save both cost and time. The high-level committee on safety, headed by scientist Anil Kakodkar, has recommended steps in this regard too and the government needs to act on them fast.