Protesters forced loco pilots out

After learning that police had arrested S.R. Biradar, Additional Divisional Engineer of Hubbali Division, and named seven others in the case, railway staff gathered at Hubballi Railway Station to protest. The numbers started swelling.

The protesters were led by South Western Railways Mazdoor Union general secretary A.M. D’Cruz.

As more employees joined the stir, they forced loco pilots out of the Jodhpur-Bengaluru Express and did not allow the train to continue its journey.

South Western Railways General Manager Pradeep Kumar Saxena spoke to the protesters at Hubballi over telephone and convinced them to withdraw their stir with the help of the divisional railway managers.

It was 7.50 p.m. by the time the stir was withdrawn in Bengaluru.

The Bengaluru City Railway Station had witnessed a similar flash strike on April 7, 2015 after an official in the parcel section was arrested on the charge of fraud. At that time too, train services were affected