Parliament Question: Safety of ROBs, RUBs and Level-Crossings in the Country

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1632 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2026 SAFETY OF ROBS, RUBS AND LEVEL-CROSSINGS IN THE COUNTRY 1632. SHRI CAPTAIN BRIJESH CHOWTA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has reviewed ROB, RUB and level-crossings safety and the present project or operational status in the country and if so, the details thereof, section and station-wise; (b) the details of sanctioned cost, physical and financial progress, traffic/passenger data and target dates of above said projects; (c) the details of capacity, safety, staffing, land/inter-zonal bottlenecks and the authority holding each action; and (d) the details of the approval and completion of roadmap with firm milestones? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d): As on 01.06.2026, there are 15,689 Nos. of Manned Level Crossings (MLCs) on Indian Railways. Further, all Unmanned level crossings (UMLCs) on Broad Gauge (BG) network of Indian Railways have been eliminated in 2019. Level Crossings (LCs) are eliminated either by providing Road over Bridges/ Road under Bridges (ROBs/ RUBs) in lieu of LCs or through direct closure (for low traffic LCs) or by diversion of road traffic to nearby ROB/RUB/LC depending upon the site conditions. § Page 1 of 3Sanctioning of works of Road over Bridge (ROB)/Road under Bridge (RUB) in lieu of Level crossings (LCs) is a continuous and dynamic process of Indian Railway. Such works are prioritised and taken up on the basis of their impact on safety in train operations, mobility of trains & impact for road users and feasibility etc. No. of ROBs/ RUBs constructed on Indian Railways during the period 2004-14 vis a vis 2014-26 (Upto May’26) is as under: Period ROBs/ RUBs constructed 2004-14 4,148 Nos. 2014-26 (Upto May’26) 14,451 Nos. As on 01.06.2026, 4,993 Nos. ROBs/ RUBs works are sanctioned at a cost of approx. ₹ 1,17,492 Cr on Indian Railways which are at various stages of planning and execution. Completion & commissioning of ROB/RUB works depends on various factors like cooperation of State Governments in giving consent for closure of LC, fixing of approach alignment, approval of General Arrangement Drawing (GAD), land acquisition, removal of encroachment, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, law and order situation in the area of project / work sites, duration of working season in a year for the particular project / area due to climatic conditions etc. All these factors affect the completion time of the projects / works. Railways have taken following measures to expedite the progress of work: Page 2 of 3i. Joint survey with concerned State Govt./Road Owning Authority is done before finalizing the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) to ensure smooth execution. ii. Periodic meetings of Railway & State Government officials are done to resolve various issues related to ROB/RUB works. iii. Standardization of superstructure and substructure drawings for various combinations of span, skewness and width of road on the Railway portion has been done to avoid delays during the design approval. This has been issued in the form of a compendium, which can be directly adopted for Road Over Bridge across Railway lines for expeditious planning. ***** Page 3 of 3