Work on replacing mechanical barriers to resume soon

Ludhiana: After remaining suspended for more three-four months following lockdown, Northern Railway will soon resume work on its much awaited development work of replacing the rest of the 12 mechanical barriers with electronic ones in the first week of July for ensuring safety of road commuters.
After Giaspura railway accident happened, railway authorities had started the work of replacing the mechanical barrier with electronic ones as after installation of these on railway crossing, the work of gateman will be reduced to a large extent as handling of the barrier will be digitised. This will reduce the chances of accidents.
There are as many as 20 mechanical barriers at various railways crossing under the jurisdiction of the district but among them eight have been replaced with electronic barriers in the initial phase.
Giving more information, Tarun Kumar, city station director, said, “After Gaispura railway accident happened, the higher authorities have speed up the work of replacing mechanical barrier with electronic ones to ensure the safety of those using the crossings.”
“There are almost 350 barriers which come under the Ferozepur division. In the first phase of the project eight barriers were replaced and rest of them will be done in the coming days. The work for replacing the remaining 12 barriers will commence soon under the upgrading initiative of the railway board.”
Ashok Salaria , station superintendent, said, “Upgrading of the mechanical barrier with electronic ones will help in saving time of commuters who have to wait at railway crossings. The electronic lifting barriers are easy to operate as compared to the mechanical ones. Moreover, these require negligible manpower, are less time consuming and easy to maintain.”
Meanwhile, sources in the railway department have revealed that, “Some of the railway crossing in different areas of the city do not even have a proper mechanical barrier and this has led to various mishaps. Authorities will have to complete this project in a specific period of time to bring down accidents on railway tracks to some extent.