Kerala govt to sign agreement with Surface Transport, Railway ministries to build bridges at level crossings

More railway overbridges and underbridges to come up in Kerala! On Wednesday, the state government of Kerala said it has decided to enter into a tripartite agreement with the Ministry of Surface Transport and the Ministry of Railways for the construction of railway overbridges and underbridges across the state in order to reduce the number of level crossings. An official release issued by the Kerala Chief Minister’s Office said a decision has been taken by the state cabinet to this effect. At present, there are a total of 428 level crossings in the state of Kerala of which 143 level crossings have the highest traffic flow, according to a PTI report.

The tripartite agreement or a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would be signed between the state government and Union Ministries of Surface Transport and Railways to reduce the number of the level crossings with the high traffic flow by building overbridges as well as underbridges, the release issued by the Kerala Chief Minister’s Office said. The state cabinet, as part of this, directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to come up with a list of the places in Kerala where such overbridges and underbridges have to be constructed, the release said. The list would be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Surface Transport within one month of the signing of the agreement, it further added.

Meanwhile, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) recently said in a report that the national transporter and forest departments did not give priority to the construction of underpass and overpass across several rail tracks facilitating the movement of elephants, leading to several elephant deaths. The audit carried out during 2018-19, observed that precautionary measures were not being enforced in the notified elephant passages such as restriction of train speeds. It further stated that audit analysis of identified passages and elephant deaths on railway tracks revealed that more casualties were reported in those areas which were identified as elephant passages.