Accidents at railway level crossings takes more than 110 lives

The increased accidents at the railway level crossings both man and unmanned took more than 110 lives of men, women and school children in last five years. More than 165 suffered serious injuries in these accidents. This number shows the increased accidents and deaths. In last couple of weeks, two deadly accidents took place which killed nearly two dozen people including the school students.

According to the railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, there are 3,987 level crossing in Pakistan inwhich 2,470 are unmanned. Railways need 25 billion rupees to man all the level crossings. The additional amount of 2.5 billion rupees needed to pay salaries and maintain man at all crossings. The minister made it clear that its not the responsibilty of the railways to provide money to keep man atb crossings but instead it is the responsibility of the provincial governments to provide the financial resources. The minister said that we want to build under passes at all the busy crossings to stop the accidents but it needs both time and money.

The minister also said that people should be very care full to cross the level crossings and always keep a safe distance from the train. Many accidents took place because of the hurry and miscalculation of the distance and speed.

The railway has increased the speed of the trains and on some sections train are running at the speed of more than 100 kilometer per hour. It is need of the hour to spend the required money to safe precious lives. the government should build the underpasses on priority to facilitate the travelers.