(a) whether there is a huge wastage of time, petrol and diesel at various places due
to level crossings remain closed for long period;
(b) if so, whether the Railways propose to make a special provision for construction
of under-bridge at major railway crossings to stop the said wastage and for the
convenience of lakhs of commuters; and
(c) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
( SHRI R.VELU)
(a): No Such calculation has been made till now. However, due to closure of level
crossing (LC) to enable passing of trains, wastage of time, petrol and diesel at
such LCs is inevitable unless the vehicle engine is switched off by the driver.
(b): Railways have a policy to replace busy level crossings with road over bridge/
under bridges (ROB/RUBs) on cost sharing basis if traffic density at LC exceeds one
lakh TVUs (TVU - A unit obtained by multiplying the number of trains with the number
of road vehicles passing over the level crossing in 24 hours) otherwise on deposit
term basis. Proposals in both cases have to be sponsored by State Government
concerned. In addition, recently powers to the General Managers of Indian Railways
have been delegated to sanction works of `Limited height subways` in lieu of existing
unmanned/manned level crossings costing below Rs. 50 lakh, fulfilling requisite criteria.
(c): Number of such works, firm proposals for which are sponsored by concerned
State Governments, are gradually being sanctioned on all Indian Railways. During
Works Programme of 2007-08, 93 works of ROBs have been sanctioned, during 2006-07
this number was 122 works. Till now, more than 400 unmanned/manned LCs have been
identified for replacement by `Limited height subways`.