CR to send SMSes to warn commuters on crossing tracks

As part of their campaign to prevent fatal accidents on railway tracks, the Central Railway (CR) will send one crore SMSes to commuters, asking them to refrain from crossing tracks and to be careful while driving on unmanned level crossings.

As part of their campaign to prevent fatal accidents on railway tracks, the Central Railway (CR) will send one crore SMSes to commuters, asking them to refrain from crossing tracks and to be careful while driving on unmanned level crossings.

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The SMSes will also ask commuters to make use of foot over bridges to prevent accident from occurring.

According to rough estimates, around 10 people die everyday on railway tracks, mainly by being hit by trains while crossing tracks or while slipping through barriers.

"Policemen have already been posted at the level crossings on the suburban section. But there are several unmanned crossings beyond Panvel and Kalyan, many of which do not even have barriers," said a senior CR official.

The CR has given a contract to send these SMSes to a private agency that has a database of more than a crore mobile numbers belonging to Mumbaikars. The agency will be sending these SMSes to residents in a phased manner. The CR has spent around Rs2 lakh on this campaign.

Further, the railways are planning to completely close the level crossings in the city.

This move will not just help save lives but also prevent delays in train services. Some of the level crossings in Mumbai are at Vile Parle, Sewri, Goregaon and Vikhroli.

"This campaign is for places where there are more than 10 unmanned level crossings. We hope that, in phased manner, we will be able to prevent commuters from crossing tracks," said V Malegaonkar, chief PRO of the Central Railways.