Bangalore: In a move that will gladden the hearts of motorists, the South Western Railway has decided to replace 12 manned and unmanned level-crossing gates (LCGs) with road underbridges (RUBs) in a radius of 40 km around Bangalore.

A further five of the 80 LCGs that exist in an area that extends up to Dodballapur in the north, Whitefield in the east, Hosur in the south, Ramanagaram in the southwest and Dobaspet in the west are also under consideration. The South Western Railway has also posted "lookouts" at 41 LCGs.

While the cost of these box-type RUBs around Bangalore will be borne entirely by the railways, an additional plan that entails the conversion of a further 38 LCGs in various parts of the State will see the costing shared equally between the State Government and the railways. The decision on RUBs not only means an avoidance of almost endless waits till a train trundles past, but more crucially will also reduce accidents at unmanned LCGs.

But it is not just Bangalore that the South Western Railway is concentrating on, to create an awareness and educate motorists and the public on the do's and don't about crossing unmanned and manned LCGs, travelling on trains and waiting on station platforms. Between 1995 and 2005 there were 46 accidents causing 60 fatalities, at the 262 manned and 187 unmanned LCGs that are located in the jurisdictional limits of a railway division that covers parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

According to N. Ramesh, Senior Divisional Safety Officer, South Western Railway, the safety campaign that started in February took the assistance of the police, road transport authorities, public transport establishments and petroleum companies in all three States. The campaign included posting banners/stickers at petrol outlets, on railway platforms, entry/exit points in railway compartments and over 20,000 autorickshaws; penalising motorists who in violation of the Motor Vehicle Act trespassed level crossings even when the boom was down. The departure time of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses that run the rural routes was changed so that they do not coincide with the arrival of a train at a level-crossing gate, and educating a wide population on the pitfalls of trying to cross a railway line when it as obvious that a train is fast approaching.

According to Mr Ramesh the safety campaign has already produced results: 2006 has seen no accidents at LCGs.

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