Eastern Railway has commissioned a real-time monitoring system at three non-interlocked level crossings on the Karnasubarna-Khagraghat Road section in Murshidabad district, weeks after a train collision at one of the crossings killed four schoolchildren and a cyclist.
The NILC Auto PN (Private Number) System will allow station masters to track whether the railway gates are open or closed from their offices. The system was commissioned on Wednesday in the presence of Eastern Railway general manager Gitika Pandey and other railway officials, according to an official cited by the Times of India.
“The NILC Auto PN (Private Number) System for real-time monitoring was successfully commissioned at three level-crossing gates on the Karnasubarna–Khagraghat Road section on Wednesday,” the official said.
All three crossings are Non-Interlocked Level Crossings, or NILCs. Unlike interlocked crossings, NILCs are not connected to the train signal system. This means the operation of the gate is not integrated with the signalling arrangement that controls train movements.
The monitoring system has been introduced after a fatal accident in July, when a train rammed a pool car carrying students at a level crossing in the district. Four schoolchildren and a cyclist were killed in the collision.
A preliminary probe into the accident found that the pool car and the cyclist had moved across the crossing after the gate opened. They became trapped on the tracks after the gateman, alerted by the horn of an approaching local train, promptly closed the gate again, according to the report.
The new arrangement is intended to give the station master visibility of the gate status while trains operate on the section. The supplied information does not specify whether the system will include additional physical safeguards, automatic barriers, warning alarms or integration with railway signalling beyond real-time status monitoring.
The incident has highlighted the safety risks at level crossings where road users, gatemen and train operations must coordinate within a limited period. At a non-interlocked crossing, the absence of a direct connection with the train signal system places particular importance on gate operation, communication and compliance by road users.
Eastern Railway has not disclosed in the supplied information whether the system will be extended to other non-interlocked crossings or provided a timeline for further safety upgrades. The three crossings on the Karnasubarna-Khagraghat Road section are the locations covered by the commissioning announced on Wednesday.
