The railways have been asked to remove unmanned level crossings within a year, the newly appointed Minister, Piyush Goyal, said.

According to him, there are around 5000-odd such level crossings still. Removal of unmanned crossing will lead to near 30-35 per cent reduction in accidents.

“Initially, the railways had a target of removing all unmanned crossings in 3 years. But, I told them, why not do it within a year,” he told students during Lattice – a PGPEX Annual Business Conclave – at the IIM-Calcutta.

The cost burden, the Minister said, would also substantially reduce if railways take up work simultaneously rather than one-at-a-time.

Goyal had, on Thursday, chaired a high level meeting on train safety and taking stock of major issues leading to train derailments.

“Why would removing unmanned crossing be so difficult? All you need is some infrastructure and a set of communication devices. The RailTel has already prepared the optic fibre network for improving communication. So I told railways officials to complete the work within a year,” he further added.

Technology

Pointing out that he was in favour of the railways leveraging technology to improve its efficiencies, Goyal claimed to have mooted the idea of floating global tenders for new railway tracks.

Officials have also been urged to look into the upkeep of railway tracks and expedite procurement processes.

Similarly, these people have also been asked to explore options, that include using technology (like microscope and x-ray enabled carts), for overseeing the condition of tracks. At presence, the railways deploy linesmen for the job.

To a specific question by reporters on the time frame within which these global tenders can be floated, Goyal said: “These are just ideas that we have discussed. Let’s see how soon we can take them forward.”