Level crossing deaths

AT least 13 people are reported to have been killed, and dozens of others injured, when a train knocked off a truck at an unguarded level crossing near Joypurhat on Tuesday. The ill-fated truck, stuck on the railway track, could not move away before the train rammed it.
This is a type of accident that we are familiar with, and it is known that all such accidents occur due to gross human errors. In this case also the truck driver thought that he would able to get past the crossing but an engine failure left the truck stranded. This might sound like something going terribly wrong at the last moment, but a closer look into the matter will reveal that the risk factors are very much present in the way these level crossings are set up and operated. Reports say that there are about 400 level crossings in the country and almost 50 percent of them remain unmanned or were set up without authorisation. The dangers associated with unguarded or illegal level crossings need little elaboration.
Despite loss of lives in such accidents, the task of ensuring properly guarded level crossings could not be accomplished by the railway authorities in the last 38 years. The loopholes and flaws are exposed only when fatal accidents occur. It is not clear when the authorities concerned will feel the need for eliminating the grave risk that unguarded level crossings pose to both trains and vehicles.
And what about the illegal crossings set up by influential people? One wonders how such crossings exist and why the railway authorities cannot do anything to remove them. Does safety of passengers have any place in the railway authorities' list of priorities? Is it enough to form a probe committee every time a grisly accident takes place and do virtually nothing to prevent such accidents in future?
A similar accident took place at another level crossing in Joypurhat in July 2006 which left at least 35 people dead. But the accident is being referred to only after another accident, which proves that precious little has been done to eliminate the risk factors in the last 30 months.
The issue needs to be addressed to eliminate or at least reduce the number of such accidents. The railway's job is plain and simple. They have to ensure that level crossings are properly manned and no illegal crossings exist. Moreover, the railway authority should stop the extremely unsafe practice of allowing people to occupy empty spaces available on the engines and roofs of bogies. Finally, the victims of Tuesday's accident must get adequate compensation.