The Hindu : Front Page : Eight level crossings to be manned

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Friday, Jul 21, 2006

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Eight level crossings to be manned

R. Rajaram

Railway Board sanctions Rs. 1.16 crore for the exercise

TIRUCHI: The Southern Railway has planned to convert eight unmanned level crossings in Tiruchi division into manned ones in the current financial year.

The crossings identified are the ones where the traffic movement has exceeded 6,000 Train Vehicle Units (TUVs) a day. The Railway Board has sanctioned Rs. 1.16 crore for the exercise, sources told The Hindu here on Thursday.

While the initial cost for converting each unmanned gate is Rs. 14.5 lakh, the recurring expenditure for maintenance would be Rs. 15 lakh a year for each gate. Six gates are located on the Villupuram-Tiruchi section and two on the Villupuram- Katpadi section. They are situated between Tiruvennainallur and Parikkal, Parikkal and Ulundurpet, Vriddhachalam and Thalanallur, Echangadu and Mathur on the Villupuram-Tiruchi sector, and Villupuram and Venkatesapuram and Arni Road and Polur on the Villupuram-Katpadi section.

Work on converting the gates has commenced and would be completed by March. The work has been undertaken on a priority basis, keeping in mind the number of TVUs passing through these crossings.

The minimum requirement for converting an unmanned gate into a manned one is 6,000 TVUs.

There are 912 level crossings in the Tiruchi division, of which 504 are unmanned and 408 manned. The highest number of unmanned crossings are on the Mayiladuthurai-Karaikudi and Villupuram-Tiruchi sections, sources added.

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