Crossbars needed to prevent rail mishaps

KOCHI: The lack of crossbars in School Padi, Lourdes Hospital and Shanmugapuram areas where people often cross the rail lines is a matter of concern. Two weeks ago in School Padi stop, a 70-year-old man died in a train accident which could have been prevented if there was a crossbar at the railway crossing. As many as nine train accidents occurred in the past two years and the public have been demanding a crossbar to prevent such incidents.The Ernakulam-Aluva railway line passing through the Pachalam-Vaduthala region has rail barriers throughout. The railway crossing at Vaduthala is the only place where people can cross the rail tracks. But as the people of Pachalam and School Padi area have to travel almost 1.5 km to get to the crossing, the railway authorities have provided small openings in the rail barriers at Lourdes Hospital, in Shanmugapuram and School Padi regions. “There are no crossbars on one side of the opening due to which people often rush to the other side without looking out for trains. A nine-year-old  died three months ago in the same spot,” said Appukuttan, a resident of the area.“It is difficult for the people to go to Vaduthala to cross the rail line. We request the authorities to build a flyover or to place the crossbar wherever needed,” said P S Manikandarajan, councillor of Tattazham. Placing crossbars which are cost-effective can help solve the problem, he said.However, the rail authorities have contradictory views in placing crossbars in  accident-prone areas. “In areas where crossbars are there people are demanding for free passage and we were forced to remove the crossbars,” said Sashidharan Pillai, Railway Additional Divisional Manager.  “If there is a demand from the public to put a  crossbar any where we would place it at the earliest,” he said.