1 unmanned level crossing left in Allahabad division

The Railways has eliminated all unmanned level crossings (UMLC) barring one in Allahabad division.

The Railways has either closed the UMLCs through which very few trains pass, or merged them with a nearby manned crossing, built an RUB (road underbridge) or a subway or converted it into a manned level crossing.

In 2018, the railways eliminated 3,478 unmanned level crossings as part of its effort to improve safety.

Though its initial target was to eliminate all unmanned level crossings by September 2020, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal advanced the deadline to December 2018.

Local resistance

The last UMLC, which is in Uttar Pradesh, has not yet been eliminated due to local resistance. However, a Railway official said it will also go soon as a dialogue was on.

In 2009-2010, only 930 were eliminated, the number went up to 1,253 in 2015-2016 and last year, 3,478 have been eliminated across all zones," an official said.

In 2014-2015, 130 people had died in various incidents at unmanned level crossings. The number was 58 the following year, and in 2016-2017, it came down to 40. In 2017-2018, the number stood at 26, while from April 1, 2018 to December 15, 2018, there were only 16 such deaths, 13 of them in the Kushinagar accident, most of whom were children.