NF Railway plagued by 628 unauthorised level crossings

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is facing the menace of 628 unauthorised level crossings in its jurisdiction, posing threat to the safety of trains, passengers and people who use such stretches, an official said Tuesday.

Level crossings are designated spots designed to facilitate safe passage of road vehicles, unauthorised level crossings are those which locals build across tracks using soil, where trains are not supposed to stop or slow down.

There are 628 such unauthorised level crossings in Assam, West Bengal and Bihar, though the NFR has eliminated all un-manned level crossings in its jurisdiction, its Chief Public Relations Officer P J Sharma said here.

"The presence of these crossings is posing a big threat to safety of train movement and to the safety of the people who use them, he said.

As these crossings are not protected, there have been a number of deaths due to collision between trains and vehicles.

Since these are not designated crossings, people who suffer injury or loss of life while crossing them are not entitled to get any compensation from the railway's end, the NFR spokesman said.

The latest of such accidents had taken place on January 27 when Lokmanya Tilak TerminousGuwahati Express rammed into a vehicle near Bongaigaon leading to the death of two people and serious injury to another, apart from affecting train movement.

Out of the total 628 of such un-authorised crossings within N-F Railway, 374 are in Assam, 194 in West Bengal and 60 are in Bihar.

At a time when sectional speeds of trains are being increased and more and more high speed premium trains are being run, the CPRO said such trespassing have posed a major threat to safety of trains.

Loss of punctuality is also a result of such trespassing as trains have to be slowed down regularly at some of these locations, he added.