News
Tragedy at the railway crossing
After the loss of many lives, the Railways Department has finally decided to install a rail gate at the unprotected level crossing near the Alutgama railway station. This was following last week’s accident that killed six Poson pilgrims. The Sunday Times had earlier highlighted this unprotected rail crossing posed a danger to life and limb.
On Tuesday a van collided with a Hikkaduwa-bound train at the unprotected level crossing. The van was dragged about 200 metres and thrown into a stream killing six women -all residents of Kalutara.
Residents complained despite a number of requests to local politicians, the authorities had turned a blind eye to this danger.”It is only after this incident, the railway authorities took measures to install a rail gate. There were so many accidents at this unprotected crossing. Hope this is not the fate at other unprotected level crossings,” said K.Sumanapala, a resident near Depot Road, Aluthgama.
RailwaysDepartment statistics reveal there are 633 unprotected level crossings across the country’s rail tracks that cover 1,150 km.
The highest number of unprotected level crossings -225- is found along the Coast Line railway between Colombo Fort and Matara.
 All that remains of the van which collided with the Hikkaduwa-bound train |
 |
 After the tragedy railway authorities were seen hurriedly attempting to install rail gates at the unprotected crossing |
 After the loss of so many lives, the Railway Department finally installed the rail gates |
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus