Malfunctioning of protective gates and signal lights continue unattended

Despite the availability of protective gates and signal lights at most of the railway crossings from the Ja-ela railway station up to Alawathupitiya railway station, the malfunctioning of these had led to serious accidents and also severely inconvenienced the motorists.

Some time back the railway workers attended to the gates and the signal lights operated without any problem. It now appears that due to a malfunctioning of the electrical system these signal lights remain without automatically switching off and the siren bell also continues ringing.

Motorists, who are now used to this signal failure at the crossings, wade through these crossings taking great risks. Sometimes trains go past and some motorists had been lucky to escape crashing onto the moving trains. Whenever these signal lights switch on they fail to switch off, and therefore pedestrians and motorists are put on the alert as long as the siren beeps and someone rectifies this position.

A member of the local council in Ja-ela, Namal Suranga said that it is a nuisance to see these signal lights on throughout the day and the siren beeping, causing much annoyance. He suggested that he could use his monthly allowance to hire some workers from the railway security and have them look after the opening and closing of these gates and also look after the light signals.

The Secretary of the Ja-ela Traders’ Association Anura Waas said he had observed through the CCTV cameras installed at his residence, the daily occurrences at these crossings and observed on many occasions motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in their mighty hurry, creep through these closed gates assuming that there will not be a train passing the spot, and some were fatally injured and others miraculously saved. He asserted that this situation cannot be allowed to continue and the authorities should move in to rectify the position.

When this matter was posed to an officer at the Jaela railway station, he said that due to various reasons the signals are malfunctioning. The signal posts and connecting wires are often damaged by the public. The attention of those responsible had been drawn. Whenever the siren beeps continuously and when they are alerted they inform the position to the technical staff at the Ragama railway station who attend to the defect.