Unmanned crossings to go by 2020

New Delhi, April 26

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani on Friday said all unmanned crossings will be eliminated by March 2020, but asserted the primary responsibility lay with road users and not with the railways.

“We will eliminate all UMLCs (unmanned level crossings) by March 31, 2020,” he said, adding that till then, people need to be careful while crossing tracks. “There was no substitute to that. Railways cannot take any step that is completely foolproof against negligence,” he added.

Section 131 of the Motor Vehicles Act as well as Section 161 of The Railways Act have provisions on crossing unmanned railway lines — both put the onus on the driver of the motor vehicle to ensure that there is no train approaching. — PTI