Agencies
New Delhi, Sept 19: Only 216 manned level crossings have been eliminated till August-end in the financial year 2022-23 against the target of 1,000 for this period, according to the Railway ministry.
However, it is 10 per cent higher as compared with the progress achieved during the same period in the previous financial year, the ministry said in a release on Monday.
The closure of manned level crossings during 2014-22 has been 676 per year as against 199 per year during the 2009-14 period.
“To accelerate the task of elimination of manned level crossings, various measures such as a change in policy to fund 100 per cent elimination works by road over/under bridges and fixing priorities for improving railway’s operations (especially Golden Quadrilateral/Diagonal routes and 160 Kilometers per hour identified routes) are being undertaken.
“While the cost of work of construction of ROB/RUB was hitherto being shared equally by Railways and concerned state government, recent changes in the funding paradigm has allowed either party to bear the full cost of constructions depending upon their requirement,” the Railways said.
Funds allotment has been enhanced to Rs 6500 crore against Rs 4500 crore of previous FY 2021-22 - an increase of 44 per cent.
The Railways said that the road over/under bridges are being constructed for the elimination of level crossings.
Progress of construction of road over/under bridges during the period 2014-22 achieved is 1225 per year which is 61 per cent higher as compared to 763 per year during 2009-14.
During the current FY 2022-23, 250 road over/under bridges have been constructed till August this year, which is 5 per cent higher as compared to FY 2021-22 for the same period.
While the Railways has already eliminated all unmanned level crossings across its broad gauge network in 2019, its pace of work increased from 1137 being eliminated per year during 2009-14 as against an average of 1884 per year during 2014-19, the ministry said. |
