KenaSaman.com

KOTA KINABALU: A grey area remains over whether railway crossings at housing estates and villages along Sabah's 134km rail line from Tanjung Aru here to Tenom are illegal.

The Sabah Railways Department considered them illegal as they were not approved by the department, said state Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development Datuk Pang Nyuk Ming.

However, development plans and the subsequent issuance of occupation certificates seemed to suggest that such crossings had been approved and were considered “legal”, Pang said yesterday.

“Under the circumstances, it is difficult to say for sure if these are illegal. The matter must be clarified by the relevant local authority and town planning board,” he said.

The issue of illegal or unmanned rail crossings arose after a train crashed into a fuel tanker at a railway crossing into Taman Friendship in Kepayan here on Monday.

The department claimed there were 70 illegal rail crossings along its lines.

Pang said feeder roads were still being built for residents in affected areas to travel without crossing the railway lines illegally.

He said that during the upgrade of the railway lines, a full study was carried out to identify proper railway crossings and having automated gates.

In Batu Gajah, the Transport Ministry advised the people against using railway tracks as a shortcut.

Its minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said pedestrians and motorists were dicing with death if they used the tracks.

Speaking to reporters after monitoring the progress of the testing and commissioning of the first set of the six-car electrical multiple unit (EMU) at the Batu Gajah KTMB academy yesterday, Kong said the incident in Sabah, which left 12 people injured, should serve as a lesson to people who trespassed railway tracks.

KTMB president Dr Aminuddin Adnan said KTMB had enhanced its safety campaign to warn people of the dangers of crossing railway tracks, especially electrified double-tracking lines.

“People dice with danger despite warnings and fences being put up. Some were hit by trains as they took a shortcut. In some places, the fences have been demolished or vandalised.

“We have placed fences along double-tracking lines and built overhead bridges for vehicles. There are still level crossings but only at non-double-tracking areas,” he said.

According to KTMB, there are over 50 illegal pedestrian crossings throughout the peninsula, including Klang Valley areas such as in Segambut and near Angkasapuri.

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