Southern Railway becomes 'Unmanned Level Crossing Free Zone'
The Southern Railway today said it has become "Unmanned Level Crossing (UMLC) Free Zone" by implementing a 2010 policy decision, eliminating over 1,000 such level crossings. "In Southern Railway, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Chennai Divisions became UMLC free during the first-quarter of 2018," it said. "As on September 1, 2017, there were 311 UMLCs which were targeted to be eliminated by this September," it added.
Southern Railway eliminated all level crossings on September 30
"Accordingly, as on September 30, 2018, Southern Railway has eliminated all the remaining 311 UMLCs. With this, all the Unmanned Level Crossings in the zone have been totally eliminated thus enhancing safety," the Southern Railway, headquartered at Chennai, said in a release.
Railway Board had formulated policy to eliminate level-crossings in 2010
The Railway Board had formulated a policy in 2010 to eliminate all such level-crossings "to prevent accidents" as those were a "safety hazard" for both rail and road users. Accordingly, elimination of all 1054 UMLCs was planned by offering alternate modes of crossing the track by provision of subways, diversion to adjacent manned level-crossings, road under bridges, and outright closure due to low-road traffic.
