Duty hours of loco pilots monitored and rest provided after trips railway minister
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that there had been a lot of theatrics by the Opposition parties to demotivate train loco pilots.“Duty hours of loco pilots are carefully monitored, and rest is provided meticulously after trips. The average duty hours are less than eight hours in June. Only under exigencies, the trip duration exceeds prescribed hours,” Mr. Vaishnaw said on X.
Mr. Vaishnaw’s clarifications come following Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with loco pilots, weeks after the Kanchenjunga Express train accident in West Bengal claimed lives of at least 10 persons.
Mr. Gandhi stated earlier on X that many loco pilots had complained about long working hours and double duty.
Safety concerns have been raised after major train accidents such as those involving the Kanchenjunga Express, and the Balasore train accident last year, which claimed over 290 lives.
According to an RTI reply, between July 7, 2021 and June 17, 2024, 131 train accidents took place, of which 92 were derailments. “In these derailments, 64 were passenger-carrying trains and 28 were goods trains,” the reply to the RTI plea filed by Maharashtra-based activist Ajoy Bose stated.
Mr. Vaishnaw said loco pilots operated train locomotives from loco cabs. “Before 2014, cabs were in a bad shape. Now, cabs have been improved with ergonomic seats and more than 7,000 loco cabs are air-conditioned.”
He said that off-duty resting facilities of loco pilots had been improved. The Minister said a major drive for recruitment was completed and 34,000 running staff had been recruited.
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