Unmanned rail crossings mostly to blame for train accidents

On a sunny afternoon last month 11 students were happily returning from an excursion at a waterfall at Mirsarai in Chottogram. The students died as the hired microbus carrying them got through an unmanned level crossing and was hit by a speeding train.

The July 29 accident occurred only a couple of weeks after a train ran over a newlywed couple at a rail crossing in Sirajganj.

There are definite reasons behind such horrible accidents, and the topmost of them is illegal and unmanned rail crossings.

According to data from the Railways Ministry, among the 2,822 rail crossings of Bangladesh Railway (BR), 1,354 are illegal and 2,258 are without gatemen.

Among the legal rail crossings, 904 are unmanned.

BR data shows that almost 90 per cent of rail accidents happen at rail crossings. In the last one decade, a total of 936 accidents happened at the country’s rail crossings, which took away a staggering 516 lives.

Among thousands of rail crossings spread all over the country, only 564 have gatemen, majority of whom is hired temporarily under different projects. Among these gatemen, only 331 are holding permanent positions.

At least six persons are needed to operate a single rail crossing properly, which the BR lacks. To fill up the gap, BR has to recruit around 16,932 people, which the government body is failing to do.

Asked about rail accidents, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told UNB that rail accidents happen due to vehicles getting on rail tracks from roads.

“Up to 90 per cent of rail accidents happen at rail crossings. A train doesn’t hit anything, rather other types of vehicles hit trains. A train moves along the rail tracks and it’s not the Railways Ministry’s responsibility if a vehicle gets in its way and causes accident,” Sujan said.

The minister added that awareness has to grow among people to avert rail accidents.

“Coordination is needed among all the related stakeholders and everyone has to do their duties accordingly. We hire people to operate the rail crossings but other agencies build roads over the rail tracks. These agencies have to take the responsibility for ensuring safety at rail crossings,” Sujan added.

Sujan also said that rail accidents will decrease if illegal rail crossings are closed.

“We couldn’t stop illegal rail crossings from operating after much effort. Local people commit a crime when they build such illegal rail crossings. To prevent the establishment of illegal rail crossings, we put up iron barricades on both sides and cut the connecting roads but to no avail. Some people always find a way to foil our attempts,” Sujan said.