How safety is compromised

Jaipal Singh, loco pilot of Prayagraj Express, had been on the driver’s seat for 13 hours 35 minutes when his engine rammed into the stationary Gorakhdham Express on January 2, 2010 near Kanpur, causing five deaths and injuring 40. Ram Prakash, loco pilot of the Kalindi Express had been on the wheels for more than 10 hours when his train crashed into the Shram Shakti Express near Tundla on January 16, 2010 – killing three and hurting 12.

This is among the worst kept secrets of the Indian Railways: “Driver’s fatigue” is a major factor to the rail accidents.

Of the 126 train accidents that have occurred between May 2009 and July 2010 (accounting for 273 deaths), as many as 82 (65 per cent) were due to the failure of railway staff.

Against the 7 hour 25 minute Hours of Employment Regulation (HOER), train drivers are averaging 10 hours of continuous driving.

Rules do provide for rest periods, but remain silent about when the first break becomes applicable, or whether these are compulsory? Or whether there is a limit to the night duty hours?

Official documents reveal loco pilots of the Rajdhani train were on night running duties for an alarming 75 per cent of their allotted duty hours in the Allahabad division last month.

“The scenario is quite the same throughout the country. The HOER is not implemented and rest periods are usually denied. Duty hours of drivers have never been viewed as criteria for safety by the Indian Railways”, a senior loco pilot said.

Over past years, the period of initial training for drivers has been reduced from 75 to 39 weeks and the refresher training (conducted every three years) period was slashed from 40 to 21 and the present 18 days.

One of the five stages of driving training has been yanked off the training schedule, while just 16 simulators are available with the Railways — with majority of drivers not having had a chance yet to view these machines.

Railway Ministry spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said the training modules had been revised to impart “traction specific training”.

Referring to the Indian Railways Loco Runningmen Organisation’s (IRLRO’s) allegations that unqualified persons had been selected as loco inspectors, he said “this is not true”.

However, inquiries by the HT reveal that around 30 loco inspectors — who monitor the skills of the loco pilots — do not have the mandatory three years of driving experience themselves.

At the electric training school in Ghaziabad, a loco pilot with one-year experience is teaching drivers with 35 years of service.

“Safety management standards are being heavily compromised. The morale of drivers stands shattered”, retired driver/advocate M.R. Sabapati said.

Train Hi jack at West Bengal

The Delhi bound passengers in Rajdhani Express had to undergo a nightmare for six hours on Tuesday. Around 600 passengers were held hostage for over six hours in West Bengal’s Midnapore district after a naxal-backed tribal group attacked the train with bows, stones, axes and other weapons. The high drama started when the train left the Kharagpur station at 2 PM and thirty minutes later, the naxal-backed tribal group People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) pelted stones on the train and brought it to a halt. The two drivers were asked to not run the train till they give the green signal. Although none of the passengers or drivers was injured during these six hours, it still came as a huge shocker to most of them. The state police and CRPF troops moved in later in the evening and took total control of the situation. When interrogated about this hijack,the passengers said that the naxals had shown great deal of restraint and did not harm anyone. PCAPA has claimed responsibility for this incident and the group is demanding the release of their leader Chhatradhar Mahato. Meanwhile, Home Minister P Chidambaram categorically denied that any gun fire was exchanged between the police or naxals. Allthe passengers are safe and the train was given the green signal to move ahead after the CRPF troops thoroughly check the region to ensure safety from explosives.

Trains collide near Mathura; 22 dead

At the crack of dawn, as most passengers slept, came a collision so devastating that it seemed the Goa Express was an extension of the Mewar Express. Twenty two people were killed and many injured, three critically.

The accident happened at around 4 am between Mathura and Vrindavan stations, when the Delhi-bound Goa Express went on the same track as the Mewar Express, which was standing, and rammed it.

The worst hit, the last two bogies of the Mewar Express, one a reserved compartment for women and the disabled. Many died instantly, but the nightmare continued for several passengers trapped inside.

It took seven hours, the help of about 150 Army men and the use of gas cutters to rescue people or bring out those dead.

More than 18 people including several children were rescued. After the rescue operation, clearing was the toughest task.

Several injured were taken to nearby hospitals with locals and villagers helping in the rescue. The three passengers critically injured were shifted to Delhi.

Ram Niwas lost his wife and elder son, and his younger son Naresh has lost his leg. The four-year-old was looking forward to celebrate his birthday on Sunday.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has now said that the CBI will conduct an inquiry into the train mishap. She also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for families of the dead; Rs one lakh to the seriously injured and Rs 10,000 to those with minor injuries.

Investigations suggest the accident took place when three policemen on the Mewar Express yanked the chain abruptly when a prisoner they were accompanying escaped.

"The Mathura train accident occurred because the chain of one of the trains had been pulled," the Railway Minister said.

The policemen have been suspended.

In Delhi, family members are gathered at the station for some news and with medical supplies to treat the injured.

by ndtv

‘Bad health of railway drivers lead to train accidents’

Ludhiana: As many as 25 small or big train accidents that took place in the recent past were due to what the loco running staff in the Indian railways term as ‘micro-slipping effect’. This has been established by a study conducted in Germany and Japan.

Micro-slipping effect is a phenomenon in which the drivers of trains have a wink or some sort of a 'nap attack' for a second or two, due to lack of proper rest.

The secretary general of All-India Loco Running Staff MN Prasad who was at the Ludhaina railway station for a national convention programme to motivate the loco running staff said there had been a spurt of such cases wherein loco pilots happened to miss signals or apply brakes in time, thus leading to accidents.

This, he said, clearly indicated the safety hazards in rail journeys stemming from loco pilot's health which the railway authorities have long been ignoring. "Owing to lack of proper rest and less number of sleeping hours, the drivers become more susceptible to causing accidents. Nearly 10 of such incidents have taken place in the South Eastern Railways," Prasad said.

"The erratic work hours are taking a toll on the health of loco pilots. A driver needs to rest properly so that he is vigilant when on duty. At least once in two nights he needs to have sleep at night as the day's sleep cannot provide the same kind of relief.

On the contrary, it has been found that most of the loco pilots drive long distances, sometimes without getting proper rest for consecutive nights," he told Newsline while talking about their demands to provide proper facilities and rest from time to time.

"The railways are treating its loco pilots as machines. According to a survey conducted by Nagpur-based Labour Institute, health deterioration was found in up to 30 per cent of 300 loco pilots covered in the survey," Prasad said. "This is a cause for concern for all, whether it's the loco pilots, the railway authorities or the passengers. Therefore, we want the railways administration do something in this regard."

While pointing anomalies in the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendation for loco pilots' pay scales, he added that the All-India Loco Running Staff Association has decided to press for the implementation of their demands that include, among others, hiking the grade pay of assistant loco pilots from Rs 1,900 to Rs 2,800, maintaining the functional difference among drivers of goods trains, passenger trains and mail trains and accordingly provide them promotional avenues.

The association threatened to adopt the agitational approach for pressing for these demands anytime in April if no concrete steps were taken in this regard. Also present on the occasion was Daljit Singh, divisional secretary, Ferozepur Division, Northern Railway Men's Union.

an article by Expressindia

Reduce working hours, say loco pilots

Nagercoil: In response to the call given by the All India Loco Running Staff Association, around 20 loco pilots from the district unit participated in a fast observed in front of the railway station at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.

According to the president of the district unit, R.S. Anil, the association was forced to take this extreme step, in protest against the apathy shown by the Ministry of Railways towards their four-point charter of demands, including cancellation of orders asking loco pilots to work for 13 hours and reduce the duty hours to eight hours, appoint judicial committee to review the working conditions; calculate their allowance with the TA rate of Rs.340 instead of the arbitrary amount of Rs210; to increase the pay on a par with the responsibility attached to the post of assistant loco pilot and not treat them on a par with the lowest post in the Central government service and differentiate the pay to loco pilots manning good trains, passenger trains and super fast or high speed express trains.

He also said that the ‘Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railway Safety’ rightly pointed out the adamant attitude of the Railway Board in not heeding the Government policy and recommended not to extract work from loco pilots for more than eight hours to ensure safety of the travelling public..

Press report by The Hindu