New railway electric lifting barriers (ELB) installed two months ago at five railway level crossing in the city, at a cost of`17 lakhs, continue to malfunction.
Gateman operators are forced to operate at level crossing manually.
According to available information, level railway crossing numbers, including 24, 23,20,19,16 were upgraded with ELB systems with an aim of minimising the work load of gateman operators.
The railway authorities claim that technical training to operate the new system was given to gatemen. But on several occasions, the barriers are unable to function due to technical errors.
Authorities informed that around 18 trains cross the city on daily basis. Many times, barriers have to be operated manually.
Due to this, jams for 15-20 minutes have become a common sight.
Meanwhile, when Station superintendent, Patiala, Ajit Singh, was contacted on the matter, he said :”To improve the efficiency of the barriers few steps have taken. It is a machine which sometimes develop snags. Now situation has improved a lot”, he added.
However, when Senior Engineer, Signal, Patiala, Subash Chandra Joshi, was contacted he said, “I will look into the matter if any kind of problem is there but a proper training has been provided to the operators.
{{/usCountry}}However, when Senior Engineer, Signal, Patiala, Subash Chandra Joshi, was contacted he said, “I will look into the matter if any kind of problem is there but a proper training has been provided to the operators.
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