Lok Sabha Question No. 2024 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Unmanned Level Crossings in Kerala
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri K Radhakrishnan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2024 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026

## UNMANNED LEVEL CROSSINGS IN KERALA

## 2024. SHRI K RADHAKRISHNAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of level crossings across the country at present;
- (b) the details of Unmanned Level Crossings (ULCs) in the country including Kerala;
- (c)  the  deadline  fixed  by  the  Government  to  do  away  with  the  unmanned level crossings on all the operational lines;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  has  fixed  any  time-frame  to  ensure  that  all abandoned railway crossings will be safe for people/commuters and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the alternative provisions that the Government has made for the users where the unmanned level crossings have been done away with;
- (f) the number of people killed at level crossings in the country during the year  2025  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  minimize  such
- accidents; and
- (g) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to prevent accidents at the railway level crossing?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (g):  As  on  01.04.2025,  there  are  16,499  Nos.  of  manned  Level Crossings  (MLCs)  on  Indian  Railways  including  378  Nos.  in  the  State  of Kerala.  All  Unmanned  level  crossings  (UMLCs)  on  Broad  Gauge  (BG) network of Indian Railways have been eliminated by 31.01.2019.

Level  Crossings  (LCs)  are  eliminated  either  by  providing  Road  over Bridges/ Road under Bridges (ROBs/ RUBs) in lieu of LCs or through direct closure  (for  low  traffic  LCs)  or  by  diversion  of  road  traffic  to  nearby ROB/RUB/LC depending upon the site conditions.

Sanctioning and execution of works of Road Over Bridges/ Road Under Bridges  (ROBs/RUBs)  is  a  continuous  and  ongoing  process  on  Indian Railways.  Such  works  are  prioritized  and  taken  up  on  the  basis  of  its impact on safety and mobility in train operations and impact on road users.

Nos. of ROBs/ RUBs constructed on Indian Railways during the period 2004-14 vis a vis 2014-25 (upto Dec'25) is as under:

| Period                | ROBs/ RUBs constructed                                  |
|-----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| 2004-14               | 4,148 Nos.                                              |
| 2014-25 (upto Dec'25) | 13,882 Nos. (Including 121 Nos. in the State of Kerala) |

As on 01.01.2026, 4,769 Nos. Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges (ROBs/RUBs) across railways tracks have been sanctioned at the cost of ₹ 1,14,298 crore on Indian Railways  including 139 Nos. ROBs/RUBs at a cost of  ₹  4,932  crore  in  the  State  of  Kerala  which  are  at  various  stages  of planning and execution.

A total of 105 Nos. ROBs are delayed on account of the State Govt. The details are as under:

|   S.No. | Reason                                   |   ROBs (in No.) |
|---------|------------------------------------------|-----------------|
|       1 | Delay in Land Acquisition by State Govt. |              37 |
|       2 | Finalization of Alignment by State Govt. |              63 |

|   3. | Law & order/ Public Protest/Court cases etc.   | 2                        |
|------|------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|
|    4 |                                                | Agency yet to be fixed 3 |

Completion & commissioning of ROB/RUB works depends on various factors  like  cooperation  of   State  Governments  in  giving   consent  for closure of LC, fixing of approach alignment, approval of General Arrangement  Drawing  (GAD),  land  acquisition,  removal  of  encroachment, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities,   law  and  order  situation  in  the  area  of  project  /  work  sites, duration of working season in a year for the particular project / area  due to climatic conditions etc.  All these factors affect the completion time of the projects / works.

Railways have taken following measures to expedite the progress of ROB/RUB works: (i)  Joint survey with concerned State Govt./Road Owning Authority is done before  finalizing  the  General  Arrangement  Drawing   (GAD)  to  ensure smooth execution. (ii) Periodic meetings of Railway & State Government officials are done to resolve various issues related to ROB/RUB works. (iii) Standardization of superstructure drawings for various combinations of span,  skewness  and  width  of  road  on  Railway  portion  has  been  done  to avoid delays during the design approval. This has been issued in the form of compendium, which can be directly adopted for Road Over Bridge across Railway lines for expeditious planning. (iv) ROB/RUB works are planned to be executed on a single entity basis by Railway wherever possible. In case any Road Owning authority/State Govt. wants,  then  Railway  may  permit  them  to  execute  the  work  on  a  single entity basis.

During the year 2025-26 (Up to 31st January, 2026), only one consequential accident has taken place at Level Crossing on Indian Railways. In this accident, 3 persons unfortunately lost their lives. Following steps have been taken by Indian Railways to minimize rail

## accidents at LCs in the country:

-  Level Crossings having high Rail/Road vehicular traffic are interlocked with  signals  for  enhancing  safety. Interlocking  of  Level  Crossing  (LC) Gates  has  been  provided at 10,097  Level Crossing Gates  up  to 31.12.2025 for enhancing safety at LC Gates.
-  Inspection drives are carried out time to time to ensure availability of basic  infrastructure  at  level  crossings  such  as  whistle  boards,  road warning boards, speed breakers etc.
-  Public  awareness  campaigns/safety  slogans  are  undertaken  to  create safety  consciousness  among  road  users  for  safe  passage  at  level crossings.

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