The Giaspura railway level crossing, where two persons were crushed under the New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express on Saturday evening, is a killer stretch, which has seen the deaths of 15 other commuters in the past two months. Among the victims were 11 men and four women.
The deaths of Gurpreet Kaur, 26, and Ratanjit Singh, 64, who were among the scores of commuters stuck on the railway crossing on the ill-fated night, has once again brought to fore the need for a railway underpass at the busy site.
The crossing, which lies 7km away from the Ludhiana railway station, sees as many as nine lakh vehicles pass over it every week, averaging at 1.15 lakh daily. This heavy movement of traffic often allow vehicles to cross over only in the nick of time, putting commuters’ lives in jeopardy.
The traffic figures, which emerged during a recent survey by the railways operating department, make this railway level crossing among the busiest in Punjab.
“During the peak hours — 7.30am to 9.30am and 6pm to 8pm — over 50,000 vehicles pass through this point daily. Apart from this, around 200 trains running between Ludhiana and New Delhi, Ambala and Chandigarh pass via these tracks in 24 hours. Therefore, there is huge movement of traffic on the road as well as the tracks,” said inspector Anil Kumar, in-charge, Railway Protection Force (RPF), Ludhiana.
“Although two RPF personnel are deployed here during the peak hours, commuters always remain in a hurry and do not pay heed to police directions to stay behind the barricades,” he said, adding that the only solution to avoid such incidents was to construct a railway underpass here to cater to the huge rush of vehicles and allow their smooth movement.
{{/usCountry}}“Although two RPF personnel are deployed here during the peak hours, commuters always remain in a hurry and do not pay heed to police directions to stay behind the barricades,” he said, adding that the only solution to avoid such incidents was to construct a railway underpass here to cater to the huge rush of vehicles and allow their smooth movement.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar added that the railways operating department in May 2019 had conducted a survey and found that as the Giaspura railway crossing was located in the industrial area, a huge number of commuters, especially migrant labourers, passed it daily. Not only cycles and motorcycles, heavy vehicles also drive through this point daily.
Sandeep Shukla, a social activist, said residents had been demanding a underpass here for the past several years to prevent accidents. But the project’s progress kept facing hurdles.
989 trespassers in 2019
In their efforts to deter public from crossing closed railway crossings, the RPF had booked 989 people under Section 147 (trespassing) of the Railways Act in 2019.
Inspector Kumar said of these cases, 40% (395) were registered for trespassing at Giaspura railway level crossing.
Besides, in the past two months this year, another 82 people were booked for trespassing here — 57 in January and 25 in February.
344 KILLED ON TRACKS IN A YEAR
With several commuters and pedestrians showing scant regard to the approaching trains, 181 men and 14 women died while trespassing tracks under the jurisdiction of the Ludhiana Government Railway Police in 2019.
Besides, 59 men and nine women committed suicide by jumping before trains, and another 81 died of natural causes.
INSTALLATION OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS COMPOUNDED TROUBLE
According to railway officials and commuters, installation of new traffic lights just ahead of the crossing at Giaspura Chowk has added to the chaos.
The city police had installed the new traffic lights on February 15. This Giaspura Chowk, situated at a walking distance from the railway level crossing, causes the waiting traffic to multiply quickly, the officials said.
Social activist Sandeep Shukla said whenever the railway level crossing was closed, commuters were forced to wait for 15 minutes, causing standing vehicles and pedestrians to burgeon. Later, when the crossing is reopened towards the highway, the commuters are stalled on the tracks in wait for the traffic lights to turn green, thereby putting their lives in jeopardy.
Arun Kumar, assistant security commissioner, RPF, who inspected the accident site on Sunday, said he will write to the city police to remove traffic lights from this intersection.