Report of Gate meeting at Bangalore

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BANGALORE, July 7, 2012

Implement Railway Board suggestions, say loco pilots

STAFF REPORTER

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Members of the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) and the Indian Railway Loco Running-men Organisation (IRLRO) held a joint “Gate Meeting” in front of the Crew Booking Depot at the Bangalore City Railway Station on Friday demanding the implementation of suggestions by the Railway Board with regard to Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD) cases.

The board had, on June 12, issued a detailed list of suggestions to be implemented by respective Railway zones to prevent such cases. They included limiting working hours of loco pilots on mail/ express trains to six hours a day, reduction of continuous night duties to two and minimising working hours.

The “Gate Meeting” was addressed by AILRSA office-bearers C. Sunish and D. Rajkumar and IRLRO office-bearers V. Parameswara and A. Srivastava. The speakers, though appreciated the efforts of the board to reduce the burden on loco pilots, were critical about the board’s silence on one vital aspect that is affecting safety — “long-hood working of WDP4 locomotives”. They said that visibility of track and signals are the biggest concerns of loco pilots driving these locomotives, they said.

They urged the Railway authorities to implement the board’s suggestions on SPAD cases in a phases before August 15. A delegation of the two associations met the Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer who is in-charge of crew and put forth the demand to him. He, however, expressed his inability to implement it in the absence of any executive order by the General Manager of South Western Railway.

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