South Eastern Railway (SER) has eliminated all the 749 unmanned level crossings in its jurisdiction in the last four and a half years.

According to a report by SER headquarters in Garden Reach, Calcutta, out of the 749 unmanned crossings, over 200 were removed under Chakradharpur railway division while Ranchi division saw elimination of around 125-odd unmonitored crossings. The rest were removed in Kharagpur and Adra railway divisions.

“All unmanned level crossings under SER were eliminated by September-end,” said SER spokesperson Sanjay Ghosh.

Ghosh said during this period 438 unmonitored level crossings became manned, 165 underpasses were built, 57 were shut and 89 diversion roads were constructed.

“It was observed that majority of the deaths in railway-related mishaps occurred at unmanned level crossings. SER came up with a safety action plan for eliminating the unmanned crossings through various measures like construction of limited height subways, suitable road diversions and also by manning the crossings,” he said.

Senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur railway division Bhaskar, who is also the spokesperson, said elimination of the unmanned level crossings had yielded substantial operational benefits including maintaining speed limit of trains without detention.

“Cooperation of road and rail users along with elimination of all unmanned level crossings in the division will ensure more safety and punctuality of trains,” he added.

Chhotanagpur Passengers’ Association senior functionary Arun Tiwari welcomed the move. “The effort of the railway zone in eliminating unmanned level crossings deserves appreciation. Accidents at unmanned crossings are always fatal,” he added.

The Centre plans to completely eliminate all unmanned railway crossings by March 31, 2020. In September itself, the railways eliminated 1,703 unmanned level crossings across the country, higher than any other year.