Railway Board directs South Central Railway to recruit 1,949 loco-pilots
SCR intake is second highest in the country topped only by South Eastern Central Railway with 3,973 loco pilot posts cleared and Central Railway comes third with 1,783 posts sanctioned
South Central Railway (SCR) will be recruiting 1,949 loco-pilots as against the original indent for just 585 posts in the revised notification issued by the Railway Board (RB) for taking in as many as 18,999 new loco pilots across all the zones as against 5,696 following the latest railway collision when a freight train rammed into Kanchanjunga Express near Rangapani station of West Bengal last week.
SCR intake is second highest in the country topped only by South Eastern Central Railway with 3,973 loco pilot posts cleared when the original permission was for just 1,192 posts and Central Railway comes third with 1,783 posts sanctioned as against the initial list for 535 posts.
While this could lend credence to the charge of the railway unions of key railway personnel being ‘forced’ to put into long hours as against the mandated eight-10 hours due to “severe staff shortage’, senior railway officials said it could take about two years before the new loco-pilots join the work force to run the trains — freight or passenger.
“It will take 1.5 years from the time the notification is issued, examination is held, medical and other tests are completed for the training to commence for new recruits. Training includes classroom and simulator based lessons as well as ‘live’ on running train before they are absorbed as assistant loco-pilots,” informed the officials, pleading anonymity.
The sanctioned strength of loco-pilots for the zone is 10,650 of which there are 1,630 vacancies to run about 1,600 electric/diesel locomotives. At any given point of time, half of those on duty are working on trains or will be taking the mandatory rest apart from those on leave. The railway workers unions accuse the administration of making the loco-pilots work continuously for 12-14 hours against the norms because vacancies are not being filled.
“You cannot stop a train midway or cancel service, so there is no option but to make use of the available staff. The workload has also increased with more trains being introduced, more lines being built and electrification. Due to this, the mandatory rest period of eight hours when out of home station, 16 hours at headquarters after a trip or 30 hours in the weekend is not followed overburdening loco-pilots and putting them under tremendous stress,” charged SCR Mazdoor Union secretary Ch. Shankar Rao.
He attests that the unions have been bringing the matter to the notice of the officials concerned from the divisional level, General Manager and also the Railway Board at frequent intervals about the need to fill in vacancies in key posts like loco-pilots, station masters, linemen and so on. The RB receives vacancy list every month and issue figures in the ‘permanent negotiating machinery’ meeting held every two-four months at various levels.
“Of the 1.5 lakh vacancies in the railways, maximum are under the safety and operating staff categories,” claimed Mr. Rao. The unions want railways to decentralise recruitment, expedite ‘Kavach’ (automatic train protection system) and prioritise filling vacancies in safety and operations categories instead of focusing only on “beautifying” stations or giving “undue importance” to running Vande Bharat trains”.
- Telegram
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