Lok Sabha Question No. 577 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-02
Subject: Manned/Unmanned Crossings
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: T.G. VENKATESH BABU, LAXMAN GILUWA, K. MARAGATHAM, A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN, RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY, JYOTIRADITYA MADHAVRAO SCINDIA, KINJARAPU RAM MOHAN NAIDU, ANTO  ANTONY, C.R. CHAUDHARY, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., NISHIKANT  DUBEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 577 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.12.2015

## MANNED/UNMANNED CROSSINGS

## 577.      SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G.:

SHRI LAXMAN GILUWA:

SHRIMATI K. MARAGATHAM:

SHRI A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN:

SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY:

SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA:

SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU:

SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

SHRI C.R.CHAUDHARY:

SHRI S.R.VIJAYAKUMAR:

SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY:

## Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state :

- (a) the total number of level crossings in the country presently manned/unmanned, State/Zone-wise;
- (b) whether  the  railways  are  aware  of  the  report  that  unmanned  level crossings account for 60% of accidents and 73% of fatalities;
- (c) if  so,  the  details  of  such  accidents  including  derailments  occurred during the last three years and the recent derailment of Duranto Express in Karnataka, Ariyalur derailment and Kalka Shatabdi Express and the amount of compensation paid to the victims, State-wise;
- (d) whether  the  Supreme  Court  has  expressed  serious  concern  over  the growing  number  of  train  accidents  in  the  unmanned  level  crossing  in  the country  and  school  students  have  often  become  victims  and  the  recent incident in which five kids killed as the train rams into a school van in the northern part of the country; and

(e) if  so,  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  thereon  to  avoid/minimize such accidents and if not, the reasons therefor?

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## ANSWER (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 577  BY SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G., SHRI LAXMAN GILUWA, SHRIMATI K. MARAGATHAM, SHRI A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN, SHRI RAM TAHAL CHOUDHARY,  SHRI  JYOTIRADITYA  M.  SCINDIA,  SHRI  RAM  MOHAN  NAIDU KINJARAPU, SHRI ANTO ANTONY, SHRI C.R.CHAUDHARY, SHRI S.R.VIJAYAKUMAR AND SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 02.12.2015 REGARDING MANNED/UNMANNED CROSSINGS

## (a) There  are  19,047  manned  and  10,440  unmanned  level  crossings  (LCs)  in the country.

Zone-wise details, in this regard, are as under:

| S.N.   | Zones                      |   Number of manned level crossings |   Number of unmanned level crossings |
|--------|----------------------------|------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 1      | Central Railway            |                                932 |                                  169 |
| 2      | Eastern Railway            |                               1016 |                                   97 |
| 3      | East Central Railway       |                               1177 |                                  736 |
| 4      | East Coast Railway         |                                613 |                                  472 |
| 5      | Northern Railway           |                               2894 |                                 1050 |
| 6      | North Central Railway      |                               1006 |                                  378 |
| 7      | North Eastern Railway      |                               1284 |                                 1036 |
| 8      | Northeast Frontier Railway |                               1071 |                                  591 |
| 9      | North Western Railway      |                               1252 |                                 1057 |
| 10     | Southern Railway           |                               1834 |                                  708 |
| 11     | South Central Railway      |                               1444 |                                  511 |
| 12     | South Eastern Railway      |                                607 |                                  675 |
| 13     | South East Central Railway |                                534 |                                  405 |
| 14     | South Western Railway      |                                736 |                                  430 |
| 15     | Western Railway            |                               1880 |                                 2087 |
| 16     | West Central Railway       |                                767 |                                   38 |
| Total  | Total                      |                              19047 |                                10440 |

## State-wise details, in this regard, are as under:

|   S.N. | States         |   Number of manned level crossings |   Number of unmanned level crossings |
|--------|----------------|------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|      1 | Andhra Pradesh |                               1071 |                                  453 |
|      2 | Assam          |                                609 |                                  202 |

--2/-

| 3 Bihar             |   1263 |   938 |
|---------------------|--------|-------|
| 4 Chandigarh        |      4 |     0 |
| 5 Chattisgarh       |    280 |    88 |
| 6 Delhi             |     32 |     1 |
| 7 Goa               |     10 |     0 |
| 8 Gujarat           |   1555 |  2052 |
| 9 Haryana           |    603 |   182 |
| 10 Himachal Pradesh |     50 |     6 |
| 11 Jammu & Kashmir  |     34 |     1 |
| 12 Jharkhand        |    471 |   221 |
| 13 Karnataka        |    704 |   382 |
| 14 Kerala           |    451 |     9 |
| 15 Madhya Pradesh   |   1179 |   518 |
| 16 Maharshtra       |   1244 |   413 |
| 17 Manipur          |      1 |     0 |
| 18 Mizoram          |      1 |     0 |
| 19 Nagaland         |      1 |     0 |
| 20 Odisha           |    539 |   497 |
| 21 Puducherry       |     19 |     4 |
| 22 Punjab           |   1037 |   436 |
| 23 Rajasthan        |   1323 |  1022 |
| 24 Tamil Nadu       |   1336 |   702 |
| 25 Telangana        |    413 |    86 |
| 26 Tripura          |     11 |     7 |
| 27 Uttar Pradesh    |   3219 |  1466 |
| 28 Uttarakhand      |    144 |    56 |
| 29 West Bengal      |   1443 |   698 |
| Total               |  19047 | 10440 |

- (b) In  the  last  three  years  (2012-2015)  and  in  current  year  (up  to  15 th Nov.'2015), Unmanned Level Crossing Accident account for 38.9% of total accidents and 53.4% of total fatalities.
- (c) The details of Train Accidents (Derailments and Unmanned Level Crossing Accidents),  Zone-wise,  occurred  during  the  last  three  years  (2012-2015) and in current year (upto 15 th   Nov.'2015)  including  derailment  of  Duranto Express in Karnataka, Ariyalur derailment and Kalka Shatabdi Express are as under:                                                                                                       --3/-

| Railway                    | 2012-13     | 2012-13           | 2013-14     | 2013-14           | 2014-15     | 2014-15           | 2015-16 (up to 15/11/15)   | 2015-16 (up to 15/11/15)   |
|----------------------------|-------------|-------------------|-------------|-------------------|-------------|-------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
|                            | Derail ment | Accide nt at UMLC | Derail ment | Accide nt at UMLC | Derail ment | Accide nt at UMLC | Derail ment                | Accide nt at UMLC          |
| Central Railway            | 5           | 2                 | 6           | 1                 | 9           | 0                 | 5                          | 0                          |
| Eastern Railway            | 4           | 0                 | 4           | 0                 | 3           | 0                 | 1                          | 0                          |
| East Central Railway       | 6           | 2                 | 5           | 5                 | 6           | 5                 | 5                          | 0                          |
| East Coast Railway         | 8           | 5                 | 3           | 3                 | 5           | 2                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| Northern Railway           | 5           | 13                | 8           | 6                 | 8           | 9                 | 5                          | 8                          |
| North Central Railway      | 2           | 1                 | 0           | 2                 | 3           | 1                 | 1                          | 1                          |
| North Eastern Railway      | 1           | 3                 | 1           | 5                 | 7           | 6                 | 1                          | 4                          |
| Northeast Frontier Railway | 2           | 3                 | 2           | 3                 | 2           | 0                 | 1                          | 0                          |
| North Western Railway      | 0           | 8                 | 2           | 10                | 3           | 8                 | 3                          | 7                          |
| Southern Railway           | 1           | 5                 | 3           | 1                 | 0           | 2                 | 5                          | 0                          |
| South Central Railway      | 3           | 3                 | 3           | 1                 | 1           | 2                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| South Eastern Railway      | 1           | 2                 | 5           | 4                 | 4           | 2                 | 1                          | 1                          |
| South East Central Railway | 2           | 4                 | 5           | 1                 | 0           | 1                 | 1                          | 0                          |
| South Western Railway      | 4           | 0                 | 1           | 2                 | 6           | 5                 | 3                          | 1                          |
| Western Railway            | 2           | 2                 | 3           | 2                 | 1           | 6                 | 3                          | 1                          |
| West Central Railway       | 2           | 0                 | 1           | 1                 | 2           | 1                 | 1                          | 0                          |
| Konkan Railway             | 1           | 0                 | 1           | 0                 | 3           | 0                 | 1                          | 0                          |
| Total                      | 49          | 53                | 53          | 47                | 63          | 50                | 37                         | 23                         |

The amount of compensation paid by the Railways, Zone-wise, to the victims of train  derailments  and  accidents  at  Unmanned  Level  Crossing  from 01.04.2012 to 26.11.2015 including derailment of Duranto Express in Karnataka, Ariyalur derailment and Kalka Shatabdi Express is as under:

## ( ` in lakhs)

| Railway                    | 2012-13     | 2012-13           | 2013-14     | 2013-14           | 2014-15     | 2014-15           | 2015-16 (up to 26/11/15)   | 2015-16 (up to 26/11/15)   |
|----------------------------|-------------|-------------------|-------------|-------------------|-------------|-------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
|                            | Derailm ent | Acciden t at UMLC | Derailm ent | Acciden t at UMLC | Derailm ent | Acciden t at UMLC | Derailm ent                | Acciden t at UMLC          |
| Central Railway            | 0           | 0                 | 1.61        | 0                 | 6.11        | 0                 | 4.38                       | 0                          |
| Eastern Railway            | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| East Central Railway       | 3.4         | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| East Coast Railway         | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| Northern Railway           | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 3.16                       | 0                          |
| North Central Railway      | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| North Eastern Railway      | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| Northeast Frontier Railway | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| North Western              | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| Southern Railway           | 0           | 0                 | 1.32        | 0                 | 0.25        | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| South Central Railway      | 7.86        | 0                 | 0.88        | 8.72              | 0           | 1.69              | 0                          | 0                          |
| South Eastern Railway      | 13.25       | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| South East Central Railway | 2.70        | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| South Western Railway      | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| Western Railway            | 0           | 11.39             | 0           | 0.96              | 2.20        | 4.61              | 0.41                       | 21.09                      |
| West Central Railway       | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0           | 0                 | 0                          | 0                          |
| Total                      | 27.21       | 11.39             | 3.81        | 9.68              | 8.56        | 6.3               | 7.95                       | 21.09                      |

Note:  1. Railways  do  not  maintain  figures  of  compensation  paid  Statewise/UT-wise.

2. The compensation paid in a year need not necessarily relate to the accidents/casualties in that year alone.  This amount depends upon the number of cases which are finalized in a particular year irrespective of the year(s) in which the accident they pertain to, have occurred.
2. (d) Presently,  one  Public  Interest  Litigation  (PIL)  is  subjudice  in  Hon'ble Supreme Court regarding accident at Unmanned Level Crossings.
3. (e) It  is  the  endeavor  of  Railways  to  progressively  eliminate  all  unmanned level crossings by Closure/Merger/Provision of Subways/Manning, based on the availability of funds. Accordingly, in the last seven years (2008-15) and in  the  current  year  (upto  October'2015),  Indian  Railways  have  eliminated 8,170 unmanned level crossings (3,205 by manning and 4,965 by Closure/Merger/Provision of Subways). Besides this, other measures taken are:
4. 
5. Provision of basic infrastructure at all unmanned level crossing,
6.  Periodic inspection of such crossings to ensure the above,
7.  Education  of  road  users  through  Social  awareness  campaigns  with the use of print and electronic media,
8. 
9. SMS campaigns to create awareness amongst road users.

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