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Level Crossings provide a means for vehicles,

pedesrians and animals o cross over railway lines.

they exis in conries all over he world and in

many different forms. Level crossings are denitely

impediment to free ow of trafc on approach roads.

Due to trafc hold up and road accidents, level

crossings are still identied as being a weak point

in road infrastructure. This constitute a difcult

problem to be solved by Rail Authorities. Indeed,

Railways cannot control the actions of road vehicle

drivers and pedesrians a level crossings.

The layout, conguration and use of level crossings

vary from locaion o locaion, so each one is

essentially unique. To minimize the risk of train

striking the road users at crossings, some of the level

crossing are manned while ohers are nmanned. Amanned level crossings, physical barrier (gate) stops

the vehicle from entering the rail line. The efcacy of

manned level crossing depends on the skills of gate

operaors and spporing infrasrcre. Operaor

and oher expenses a manned level crossing comes

to nearly Rs.18 lac per year. Accidents are generally

reported at Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLC) due

to judgement error by road users. In Indian railways,

there are about 17000 unmanned level crossings.

Railways are preparing Master Plan for elimination

of unmanned level crossings by manned level

crossings/ROBs/RUBs

Government is concerned with number of fatalities at

level crossings. In the Central Road Fund (CRF) Act

2000 (Act no. 54 of 2000 para10 (viii) allocation of

12.5% of total of fty percent of cess on high speed

diesel oil and he enire cess colleced on perol shall

be for the construction of road either under or over the

railway by means of a bridge and erection of safety

works at unmanned rail-road crossings. Funds for the

construction of ROBs/RUBs are available. Railways

on their part to expedite construction of ROBs and

RUBs have issued guidelines and drawings for

sandard span of composie girders as well as has

improved heir fnd ilizaion in he las cople of

years.

In 2009-2010, UMLC accidents constituted about

38% (62 out of 162) of the total consequential train

accidents and were responsible for 72% (161 out of

225) of the total fatalities. The vulnerability at level

crossings has always been a cause of concern to

Railway Authorities. One of the measures initiated

to reduce the number of level crossings is theirreplacemen wih limied heigh or resriced heigh

subway below railway lines where vertical clearance

suitable to the type of vehicle plying may be adopted.

These Limited Height Subways (LHSs) are generally

being provided on Village Roads and Other District

Roads (ODRs).

IRC:54-1974 states, Vertical clearance at

underpasses shall be at least 5.0 meters. However,

in urban areas, this should be increased to 5.5 m

so that double-decker buses could be accommodated.However, his provision is no necessarily reqired

for all roads hrogho he conry. I is seen ha

ligh commercial vehicles can easily pass wih he

vertical clearance of 3.6 m LHS where provided,

whereas fll heigh heavy commercial vehicles can

pass at nearby located ROBs and level crossings.

The proposal of Railways to replace level crossing

From the Editors Desk

REPLACEMENT OF LEVEL CROSSING BY ROAD OVER

BRIDGE OR ROAD UNDER BRIDGE

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INDIAN HIGHWAYS, AuGuSt 2012 3

EDITORIAL

with limited height subways i.e. for village roads

vertical clearance 3.2 m but not less than 2.5 m in

any case; and for other district roads 3.6 m in rural

and urban areas is a step in right direction.

A study of trafc delay and economic loss at selected

level crossings on NHs in Gjara was carried o

and reported in Indian Highways, May 1984 issue.

Data on trafc classication and volume, frequency

and draion of closre of level crossing gaes,

number of vehicles and the delay caused by closure

of gaes for all ype of vehicles, pedesrian con

and spo speed srvey was colleced nder he sdy.

From the economic analysis, it was concluded that

cost of construction of ROB/RUBs will be ploughed

back after commissioning the same within a period

of 44-95 months. The internal rate of return varied

between 17% to 29%. This higher rate of return

further justies replacement of level crossings by

ROB/RUBs.

As per policy of Railways, construction of

approaches is nder he spervision of NHAI/Sae

PWDs and bridge work over railway portion by

Railways on the basis of GAD as agreed upon both

by NHAI/State PWDs and Railways. On accountof lack of co-ordination between Railways and

NHAI/State PWDs, there is delay in construction

and opening of ROB to road users. In the case of

NHDP projects the civil contractors xed by NHAI

are handling work of both bridge within railway

boundary and work of approaches. This policy needs

to be extended to other ROB/RUB projects being

implemented by State PWDs or a Coordination

Committee comprising of respective State PWDs

and Railways be set up to oversee timely completion

of bridges and approaches.

Ministry of Railways through Railway Design and

Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow has

prepared standard working drawings for composite

bridges (Steel girders) and reinforced concrete deck

for span of 18,24,30 and 36 m. These drawings areavailable on payment from RDSO, Lucknow. These

drawings can be used for bridges over the railway

line in railway boundary with advantage and would

help in saving time being spent in seeking approval

from Railways. These drawings have been developed

for IRC loadings and carriageway of 10.5 m (in

conformity to MORT&H circular dated 24th March,

2009). On dedicated freight corridor, railways have

revised the qualifying value of Train Vehicle Unit

from 1.0 lac to 50000 only for cost sharing in respect

of construction of ROB/RUB for replacement of an

exising level crossing.

With the construction of Limited Height Subways,

he movemen of heavy commercial vehicles may ge

resriced o NHs and SHs provided wih fll heigh.

Road over bridges or Road Under Bridges and other

roads may caer o he reqiremen of ligh vehicles.

The authorities will have to take up this challenge of

elimination of level crossings to save time, energy &

ensre safey of road sers.

However, he closre of level crossing simlaneosly

with the commissioning of ROB/RUB remains a

challenge in some cases to ensure public safety at

large.

(Arun Kumar Sharma)Secreary General

Comments on this Editorial are invited and may be sent by E-mail: secretarygen@irc.org.in