Day after Shatabdi crushed two: Traffic density at Gyaspura 8 times acceptable limit, no state nod for bridge, says railways

“The Government of India has a policy that at whichever crossing TVU crosses 1 lakh, we can take up bridge construction on 50:50 cost sharing basis with state government. We had proposed 100 such bridges for Punjab crossings where TVU exceeds one lakh. The one for Gyaspura was also proposed in 2015, but it is still awaiting approval from state government. With TVU here crossing 8 lakh, it is certainly a case which should be taken up urgently to avoid a bigger tragedy in future,” he said.

About the Saturday accident, the DRM said he has marked an internal inquiry.

At least fifteen deaths have been reported at this crossing in past two months, according to a railway source.

Busy crossing

With hundreds of industrial units in nearby Focal Point and Dhandhari areas, the Gyaspura crossing witnesses swarm of vehicles especially during peak hours in morning and evening when labourers and other workers commute on their two-wheelers.

The videos that surfaced after Saturday’s incident, purportedly showed the crossing packed with vehicles on either side of the barriers. Even as barriers on the both sides were closed, people on two-wheelers continued to cross the tracks, from underneath the barriers.

A senior Railways official pointed out that the number of vehicles at the crossing has nearly doubled in four years. “In 2015, when we wrote to Punjab government proposing bridge construction at Gyaspura crossing, TVU recorded here was nearly 4 lakh. Then in May 2019, it was recorded at 8.5 lakh. It actually doubled in four years. It is one of the highest in the country indicating high risk of mishaps on daily basis but still we are awaiting approval from Punjab government to have a bridge. We need their approval because railway bridges are constructed at 50:50 cost sharing by state and Centre (Railways),” said the official.

He further revealed that in Punjab there are still at least 100 railway crossings with TVU of more than one lakh requiring immediate construction of bridges, of which state government had recently approved funds for just 20. “The twenty crossings approved for bridge construction do not include Gyaspura,” he added.

FIR against two injured

An official statement by the DRM Ferozepur office on Sunday said: “According to the electronic system installed by the railways, trains signals cannot be received if barriers aren’t in place. An interlocking panel system is in place and nowhere the system was manual. Barriers on both sides of crossing were closed and intact…..It also isn’t possible that one side of crossing was open because barriers on both sides open and close simultaneously being automatic.”

However, eyewitnesses claimed that there was complete chaos as the “crossing was closed within seconds” due to which “people were trapped” when the train arrived. “Even as there was lot of traffic on tracks, the crossing was closed and we got trapped. There are three tracks and first a Chandigarh to Amritsar bound train came on first track. As it left, seconds later Shatabdi came on the middle track leading to chaos. People who failed to move from middle track were crushed,” said an eyewitness.

Two persons, Rattanjit Singh (60) and Gurpreet Kaur (25), were killed in the accident and two others — Sunny Kumar and Arjun — were injured. The Government Railway Police (GRP) has booked Arjun and Sunny for trying to cross the closed railway crossing.

Inspector Balbir Singh, SHO GRP police station, Ludhiana, said that an FIR has been registered against both injured persons under the sections 304-A (causing death due to negligence), 279 (Rash driving), 427 (mischief causing damage to amount of Rs 50 or more), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of IPC on statement of railway staffer who was on the spot.

“They have been booked because despite the crossing being closed, they tried to trespass and move their vehicles forcefully under the barrier, putting life of others also at stake as two trains were awaited. Both are undergoing treatment and we have recorded Sunny’s statement,” said the SHO.

What is TVU? How is it calculated?

Traffic vehicle unit (TVU) or Average Traffic Vehicular Unit (ATVU), is the formula which is used by the Railways to assess traffic density and vulnerability of a railway crossing. It is calculated based on the number of vehicles and trains that pass from the crossing on a daily basis. The vulnerability of a level-crossing is measured by calculating TVU which is obtained by multiplying the number of trains with the number of road vehicles passing over the level crossing in 24 hours. While the train, cars, bullock carts etc are considered one unit, cycles, rickshaws and auto rickshaws are considered as half unit. Railways has to conduct TVU surveys for all crossings at least once in three years, for seven days in a row, to get the average TVU. And as per the Policy on Level Crossings to reduce fatalities, crossings recording more than 1 lakh TVU should be taken up for immediate bridge construction.