Over 17 Members of Parliament from various opposition parties have written to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, underscoring the plight of loco pilots due to work stress, which has led to red-signal overshoots and subsequent accidents.

The intimation comes after members of the All-India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA), a loco pilot union, approached these MPs to bring their issues to the attention of the railway minister, news agency PTI reported.

After hearing out the complaints, five of the MPs wrote separate letters, while twelve others sent a joint request to the railway minister for enhancing facilities and rest for train drivers.

Rajya Sabha MP from the DMK, M Shanmugam, in his letter to railway minister wrote, “It is our submission that lack of alertness from the part of crew is due to excessive fatigue and accumulated sleep debt on account of inadequate rest,” quoted PTI.

“Even the High Power Committee on Railway Safety has recommended that continuous night duty for running staff shall be limited to two nights after which they must be granted at least one full night in bed before being booked again,” Shanmugam added.

CPI(M) MP S Venkatesan demanded a "Weekly Rest" of 30 consecutive hours for the loco pilots after the expiration of a headquarter rest period of 16 hours.

Meanwhile, in an 'X' post on Wednesday, Vaishnaw accused the opposition of spreading misinformation to demotivate the loco pilots.

The railway minister said that the average duty hours for loco pilots is less than eight hours in June 2024, while 7000 loco cabs and almost all (558) running rooms are now air-conditioned.
 

Loco pilots are important members of the railway family. Since there is a lot of misinformation and theatrics by opposition to demotivate our Loco pilots, let me make things very clear;

Improved working conditions;
Duty hours of loco pilots are carefully monitored. Rest is…

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) July 10, 2024

Last month, loco pilots from the South Zone staged a 28-day protest starting from June 1, demanding a weekly rest period of 30 hours plus a headquarter rest of 16 hours. The loco pilots claimed that an order from the Karnataka High Court is in their favour, PTI reported.

The loco pilots have pressed for the demand that the current railway norm of four continuous night duties be reduced to two nights.

Dr. T Sumathy, DMK MP in Lok Sabha, said that despite working up to nine hours or more, loco pilots have no access to basic requirements such as toilets.

“In 2016, the National Human Commission ordered the Railways to provide air conditioning and toilets in the Engine room for the pilots,” Dr Sumathy wrote.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, John Brittas in his letter wrote, “The staff are frequently required to work beyond the recommended 10-hour duty limit, contravening the assurances made by various committees and the then Labour Minister’s announcement in Parliament on 14.08.1973.”

“Such prolonged work hours not only affect the well-being and efficiency of the staff but also jeopardize railway safety, particularly under challenging operational conditions,” Brittas added.

Expressing concerns over these issues, the MPs said it is distressing that 18 locomotive pilots have been suspended, 16 subjected to administrative transfers, and 17 served with major penalty charge sheets, along with about a hundred minor penalty charge sheets from June 1, 2024 onwards, the news agency reported.

“These punitive actions not only demoralize the employees but also severely impact the workload and operational efficiency,” Brittas said.

Some of the other opposition MPs who have lent their support to the loco pilots' demands include DMK MPs Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Thiuchi Siva, and Arun Nehru, as well as Congress MPs Jebi Mather and Karthik Chidambaram, among others.