All unmanned railway crossings will be eliminated by 2020, Railway minister Suresh Prabhu announced on Thursday as the government rolled out plans to improve the poor safety track record of the world’s fourth largest transporter.
Presenting the Railway budget for 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha, Prabhu said railways has managed to bring down accidents considerably and added that elimination of unmanned crossings was a step forward towards the target of zero accidents.
There are around 11,000 unmanned railway crossings in the country which account for around 40% of accidents involving the railways, official data show.
He said the government has also roped in IIT Kanpur for a collision avoidance system to be installed at unmanned crossings.
“Introduction and assimilation of technology was the key to eliminating accidents,” he said.
Last year’s rail budget had allocated ₹6,581 crores for elimination of nearly 3,500 unmanned. Till February, about 1,000 unmanned level crossings have been eliminated.
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