'Don't pressurise gatemen to open railway LC gate'

Vijayawada(NTR District): South Central Railway Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Shivendra Mohan has said that the railways are creating awareness among road users on the safety measures to be followed at railway level crossings.

Interacting with the media at DRM conference hall here on Thursday, the DRM said Vijayawada division has 424 level crossing gates and among them, 144 are non-interlocked and operated by the gateman. He said road users should not put pressurise the gatemen to open the gate immediately after the train crosses. 'The gatemen do their duty as per the rules of railway department and follows the procedure. road users should know the consequences of disasters at rail crossings.'

Stating that International Level Crossing Day is observed on June 9 around the world, Mohan said that awareness programmes were conducted from June 6 to 9 to mark the occasion. He said trespassing is an offence and all road users crossing railway must be aware of it. Briefing about safety measures, the DRM said railways have organised awareness campaigns at various LC gates, distribution of pamphlets and conducting safety sessions. The DRM said that all the unmanned level crossings were eliminated completely in the division.

He also said that nearly 15 RUB's were constructed in the last two years and the manned level crossings were permanently closed by the Engineering Department of Vijayawada Division.

M Srikanth, ADRM, Operations, PVN Ravi Kumar, Sr DSO along with E Santharam, Sr DEM, Coordination, P Kiran Kumar, DCM, North, Safety Inspectors and staff participated in the event.