Around five people were killed every day in India in railway crossing accidents in 2021, with at least two from Uttar Pradesh, government data analysed by CNN-News18 shows.
Last year, India reported 1,550 railway crossing accidents that killed at least 1,807 people, according to Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India-2021. Uttar Pradesh alone recorded 575 accidents that killed 875 people. Out of the 1,807 killed, 1,493 were male and just 314 were female.
“Maximum railway crossing accidents were reported in Uttar Pradesh accounting for 37.1% followed by Madhya Pradesh (12.6%) and West Bengal (10.6%). States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have reported highest fatalities in railway crossing accidents, accounting for 48.4% (875 out of 1,807 deaths), 10.8% (196 deaths) and 9% (163 deaths) respectively during 2021,” the report reads.
Seven states – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Kerala, and Jharkhand – together accounted for nearly 97 per cent of railway crossing accidents and deaths in 2021. The rest of India reported 54 such accidents that killed 55 people.
The railway crossing accident deaths reported in 2021 were the highest since 2017. Between 2017 and 2021, at least 7,795 railway crossing accident deaths have been registered.
The numbers in 2021 – both accidents and deaths – were over 50 per cent more than in 2020 when 1,014 such accidents were registered that killed 1,185 people. In 2020 as well, Uttar Pradesh reported the maximum cases of railway crossing accidents – 380 out of 1,014 cases, accounting for 37.5 per cent of total such mishaps.
Further digging into the numbers from 2021 showed that the most accidents took place in the month of October (152) followed by June (145). Also, the highest number of accidents occurred from 9 to 12 in the morning and evening – 227 accidents between 2100 and 2400 hours; and 224 accidents between 0900 and 1200 hours.
It is also important to note that just 44 accidental deaths were reported at unmanned railway crossings and about 73% of such deaths were reported in Tripura – 32 out of 44 deaths– in 2021. The remaining 12 deaths were reported from Kerala.
As per the Ministry of Railways, the task of eliminating level crossings over Indian Railways is being undertaken in mission mode.
“As on date, all Unmanned Level Crossings stand eliminated on the Indian Railway Broad Gauge network. Pace of elimination of Unmanned Level Crossings increased from 1,137 per year during 2009-14 as against the now achieved average of 1,884 per year during 2014-19,” the ministry said.
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