Memorandum Submitted to CME/DME EMD Shed

To

The Chief Mechanical Engineer,

South Western  Railway, Hubli.

Respected Sir,

This organization of loco running staff of Hubli division would like to bring a matter of grave concern for your kind attention and seeks your  urgent intervention which affect  our life as well as  safety of the trains.

Working with WDG4/UBL based locos have become   a tough task for the loco pilots as the temperature inside the loco in the day time raises beyond human capacity.  The cab roof of WDG4 are not thermal insulated beneath the roof so that at day times the temperature inside the cab exceeds beyond the bearable limit  and  at night times the cold level goes too low  which make the working very hard.    It is quite ashameful    that even a car of worth mere  one lakh rupees provides air-conditioned cab for its user whereas the shed totally neglecting   the loco pilot to make sure of proper  working environmental inside the cab of its crores worth WDG4 locos.  This association humbly request your kind intervention to modify the WDG4 loco cabs air-conditioned  as per the existing guidelines of the Rly board.

  When the UBL  based WDG4 /WDP4 locos reaches shed for attending schedule ,scant respect is paid to  the remarks  entered by the loco pilots in the diesel -log book about  the deficiencies and repairs to be done on safety related items like wiper, look out glasses , side windows, loco pilot seats etc. We would like give to your good office  an insight into the deficiencies  of drivers cab of Hubli based  WDG4/WDP4 locos ,  when they are dispatched from EMD Shed.

1) The shed never cleans the cabins whenever the locos are attended  and always will be littered with leftovers .  There are many locos which are not cleaned  properly  for years as in many locos it can be seen with the  residues of smoke and carbon which always stick inside the cabin which is dangerous for the cabin crew who works hours together sitting inside the cabin and  so is the case of floor of the cabin which is always left over without proper cleaning.

2) Many locos come out of the shed with non-working wipers or with worn out wiper blades which does not save its purpose. This always affects the visibility of the loco pilots.

3) Lookout glasses which is very much important as far as safety is concerned, is never cleaned in the shed  as a result they  gradually turns to opaque.

4) Loco pilot’s  seat is treated as the worst item in the loco. In many of the locos  seats are not in a position to fix at a particular place.  Even in express trains which works with long hood , the seats are placed improperly. Many of the seats are moving zig –zag at the moment loco starts  which does not  allow the loco pilot to concentrate on his driving as he has to adjust his seat to position every now and then.

5) Window shutters which is a very important item in the loco especially the ghat section is concerned , as a small gap in between brings thick  black smoke inside the cabin which is dangerous for the crew and  fatigue the crew soon. Shutters  should be able to slide easily for opening & closing especially while working for banker purposes in the ghat section. But in Hubli based WDG4 locos this is one of the worst maintained item which is not tight proof as well not able to slide properly.

6)The sun shade wiser provided on the look out glasses does not serves its purpose. Most of the locos are not been provided with these wisers. The remarks made by the loco pilots to paste sun screen film on top of the look out glasses and on the window shutters are not been considered by the shed yet. Due to this the loco pilots  suffers of  sun light hits on to their eyes , hence causes the dazzling effect which is dangerous for the proper visibility.

The TSP at castlerock do not want to attend if any  troubles  reported by the loco pilots. The only thing they want to do in those times is to make a remark in the repair book that  “PERMITTED TO WORK IN THE SAME CONDITION”. There are times when loco pilots were forced to work with out wipers, window shutters in banker loco in ghat section  ,and even without  loco pilot seats.

All the safety committees appointed by railways has recommended the modifications  in the loco cabins and railway has its own guidelines regarding cab ergonomics. But here the existing items in a loco is not maintained properly , leave alone the modification the railway is going to bring.  Due to the lackadaisical attitude of the shed towards the safety category most of the loco pilots do not want to make any remarks in the repair book as they very well know that nothing is going to change. It seems that shed looks at the loco only like a bullock cart and the attitude is like the loco does not involves any safety.

To the best of our knowledge,   though  there are ample of staff available at EMD/UBL shed  the nauseating conditions of the loco cabs  raises the doubt about the quality of management of the shed and its attitude towards  the running staff. Most of the representations  sent  by this association to the authorities were seem to have thrown out to the dust bins with out even going  through it and assurance made by the authorities were  seems to have forgot deliberately.

We request your good office to appoint an officer, who is related to shed to travel in the WDG4 loco in the afternoon to experience the effects what we have mentioned and also to travel in a TLC banker loco in the ghat section.

AILRSA / Hubli division humbly request your kind intervention  so as  to assess the functioning of EMD shed /HUBLI   and bring to book those responsible for the mess so as to ensure the proper safe working conditions  inside the WDG4 locos. This is the last hope of ray for the running staff to get a clean and properly maintained loco.

                     Expecting propitious steps from your good end,

                                                         Thanking you,

                                                                                                                Yours faithfully,

HUBLI                                                                                                      (C.SUNISH)

                                                                                                            GENERAL SECRETARY

27/03/2014                                                                                                                                      

Copy to;

1. The General  Manager, South Western Railway, Hubli.

2 Chief Safety Officer, South Western Railway, Hubli.

3. The Member Mechanical, Railway Board, New Delhi.

4. The Chairman, Railway Board, New Delhi.