Renovation 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 renovation, construction and up-gradation in order to make those protected.
To this end, a Tk47.84-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.
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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.
