Train mows down tempo at unmanned crossing

A mini tempo was knocked down by a moving goods train near the Dapodi area on Sunday morning. However, no casualties were reported. The mishap has brought forward the issue of unsafe unmanned crossing once again.
In May, two people had died when a tractor trolley in which they were traveling collided with a passenger train between Yavat and Urli.
Railway officials are concerned about the indisciplined nature of travellers at the level crossing. Public relations officer of Pune railway division Yogendra Kumar Singh said, "The incident took place on Sunday morning when an autorickshaw driver trespassed the unmanned level crossing. The boom barrier at the crossing was already down but the auto driver broke it to jump the signal. The goods train arrived at the same point, but fortunately, the speed was under control and it was slowed down immediately when the rickshaw collided with the train. Not much damage was reported. After the accident, the autorickshaw driver ran off leaving the vehicle behind. We have recovered the vehicle and with the help of RTO, we will find out the owner's whereabouts. An FIR is lodged against an unidentified person with the GRP in Dapodi."
This is not the only incident of trespassing at railway tracks. A few months back, railway officials had carried out extensive drive to curb this practice; where they collected Rs57,235 as fine and around 764 people were caught crossing the railway tracks till March 3.
"We have decided to close down all unmanned railway crossing completely by the end of 2015. We will build subways and flyovers for crossing."