1.

INTRODUCTION

Transportation is a movement of men and goods is as old as civilization

Roads or highways are one form of the means of transporting men and materials
from one place to another. Transportation is the critical underpinning upon which
the industrial and technological complex of the nation is based. Transportation is
the life-line of any country. Because in all walks of life without transportation the
progress or development of any country is impossible. Transportation plays a very
important role in economical and social development of the country. Fixed
facilities of the physical components of the system that is fixed in space and
constitute the network of links (e.g., roadway segments, railway track, and pipes)
and nodes (e.g., intersections, interchanges, transit terminals, harbors, and airport)
of the transportation system.

2. STUDY AREA

Kaniyapuram railway station is situated near the National Highway 47 and

the station surrounded by so many famous places. Therefore closing of gates
makes heavy traffic at this area and the near NH 47.Nearly 40 trains are passing
through this station between 4am and 9pm and also 3 junctions also affects the gate
closing delay. This railway line is of very great importance because the central
station Trivandrum is just 4 stations away and the most important aspect is the 2
stations before and after this station is little far and the gate closing time
influences this and the vehicles stops more time at the station and makes a heavy
traffic.
2.1 Identifying the Study Problem

The junctions in front of the gate at both side and the major junction
between the National Highway 47 and the local road (Alumoodu Jn) and the
KSRTC bus depot and the above mentioned famous places (Sankhumugam, Veli,
ISRO, St. Xaviers college, Muthalapozhi and the Devotional places).

In future a Technocity also coming near the location makes the traffic more
vulnerable. The present traffic scenario as shown in figures.
3. DATA COLLECTION

It is necessary to collect relevant data for carrying out the study. The various
traffic surveys conducted are

3.1 Volume Count Survey

3.2 Frequency and duration of Gate closure of level crossing gate
3.3 Traffic delay Survey

3.1 VOLUME COUNT SURVEY

 ALUMOODU- PERUMATHURA-
DIRECTION PERUMATHURA ALUMOODU
VEHICLE (IN (IN
TYPE (IN VEHICLE) PCU) (IN VEHICLE) PCU)
2 WHEELERS 3536 1768 3358 1679
3 WHEELERS 2328 2328 2119 2119
CAR/JEEP 1238 1238 1112 1112
BUS 112 336 98 294
TRUCK 68 306 75 337.5
TRACTOR 7 31.5 9 40.5
CYCLES 1012 506 995 497.5
LCV 795 1192.5 650 975
TOTAL 9096 7706 8416 7054.5

From the table it can be observed that the at level crossing from Alumoodu
to Perumathura total of 9096 vehicle travels in the junction on the other hand some
of 8416 vehicle travel in the level crossing. Which is the almost equal in both
directions. From the table it can be also observed that movement of two wheelers is
higher followed by three wheelers and four wheelers. But a significant noted that
some of 2000 numbers of cycle traverse in both direction of junction.

3.2 FREQUENCY AND DURATION OF GATE CLOSURE

From the study, there are total 39 numbers of trains passing through this line
between 4am and 9pm with 6 numbers of passenger train daily. The gate closures
per day were observed 4 hours and 52 minutes. The gate closure detail is
summarized below in Table.2.

TYPES Nos. DELAY in minutes

STOPPING TRAIN 6 60

NON-STOPPING TRAIN 33 232

Total 39 292

3.3 TRAFFIC DELAY SURVEY

The stopping train need almost 10 minutes closing due to the adjacent
stations distance and the non-stopping train need almost 7 minutes of waiting.
From this survey we knew that due to this gate closure delay the entire traffic block
occurred at the junctions and then the adjacent NH47.