Rehabilitation works of 326 level crossings near completion
RAJSHAHI, Jan 28, 2021 (BSS) – Rehabilitation works of 326 level crossings
in the west zone of Bangladesh Railway comprising Rajshahi, Rangpur and
Khulna divisions are on final stage.
Al Fattah Masudur Rahman, chief engineer of the zone, said the level
crossings have been brought under various need-based development work
including rehabilitation, construction and up-gradation in order to make
those protected.
To this end, a Taka 47.84-crore project is being implemented aimed at
ensuring safe and uninterrupted movement of rail and road traffic by
upgrading the level crossing gates.
Construction and reconstruction works of 4,976.50 square-meters corner-
rooms and repairing of 47,793 square-meters road surface attached to the
level crossing are nearing completion.
Implementation work on installing 312-set gate barriers and 5,508 wooden
sleepers along with necessary signaling system and other instruments is also
on the completion stage.
The project has also appointed 851 gatekeepers through outsourcing and many
of them are performing duties.
Salient feature of the project is to decrease the running time of passenger
trains by upgrading the level crossing gates and thus improving the sectional
capacity to a large extent.
Engineer Masudur Rahman said there are around 1,054 more level crossings in
the zone and most of those are unauthorized which local people have built for
their personal purposes. Measures will be taken to make all those protected
in phases, he said.
The level crossing gates are a very sensitive and important part of railway
operation which is also prone to accidents. In spite of following strict
safety rules, accidents are taking place due to many reasons causing human
casualties, damage to government and private properties.
Upgrading and repairing of the existing gates and construction of the new
ones have become an urgent need for converting the unauthorized level
crossing gates into authorized ones to reduce the possibilities of accidents.
Mihir Kanti Guha, general manager of the zone, hoped up-gradation and
manning the level crossing gates will ensure the utmost safety for rail and
road traffic users especially for poor and vulnerable.
There is an urgent need to save the human lives which are endangered over
the long periods when accidents occur at level crossing gates.
When a road is linked across the railway track, it is mandatory that the
departments concerned arrange a meeting with the railway department about
coordination of the matter, but the provision is hardly followed, he said.
Sometimes unruly drivers, eager to pass level crossings in haste, even
attack gatemen when they put barriers at level crossings, Mihir said.
Upon successful implementation of the project by the next couple of months,
it will provide signaling arrangement especially in highway level crossing
gates to avoid accidents that is very important in the present context.