To make the journey of trains safe, the Railway Board will bear 100 per cent of the cost of eliminating railway crossings across the country and replacing them with Rail Over Bridges (ROBs), Rail Under Passes (RUBs), and Foot Over Bridges. The board issued orders to this effect under a new policy to all zonal railways on March 2.

A senior Railway Board official said that the construction of ROB-RUB is done jointly by Zonal Railways, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), state agency PWD and other agencies. In this, a part of the expenditure incurred on the project has to be given to the said agencies.

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The official said that a lot of time is wasted in this process. For safe rail operations, all railway-level crossings across the country are being abolished. In view of this, the Railway Board has decided that 100 per cent of the cost of making ROB-RUB will be borne by the Railways itself.

The official said that the state government and NHAI-PWD will bear the cost of land acquisition, removal of public facilities, etc. for making ROB-RUB. The special feature of the new policy is that where there is no railway crossing, construction of ROB-RUB, and foot over the bridge can be considered on the demand of the state government.

The new policy will be implemented in the new financial year. A target has been set to make 1000 ROB-RUB in the coming financial year.