Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took to X, formerly Twitter, to address the concern surrounding the working conditions of loco pilots which have also been highlighted by the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
In his post, the minister wrote, “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.”
He then went on to list the facilities provided by the Indian Railways to make the working conditions of loco pilots better.
“The attempt to demoralise railway family with fake news will fail. The entire rail parivar is united in serving our country,” he added.
Vaishnaw on working conditions
Talking about the improved working conditions of the loco pilots, Vaishnaw said that they duty hours of loco pilots are monitored carefully, adding that they are given rest after trips.
He said that the average duty hours of the loco pilots are maintained within prescribed hours. “The avergae is less than 8 hours in the month of June this year. Only under exigencies, the trip duration exceeds the prescribed hours,” he further said.
Vaishnaw also revealed that the pilots operate the locomotives from the loco cab, which he claimed were in very bad shape before 2014. In the last 10 years, the cabs have been equipped with ergonomic seats and over 7,000 loco cabs are air conditioned. “New locomotives are manufactured with AC cabs, the minister revealed.
Recruitment
Vaishnaw also revealed that major recruitment exercise was carried out in the past few years and 34,000 running staff were hired. Besides this, the recruitment of 18,000 running staff is currently in process.
Off-duty facilities
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned that when pilots complete a trip, they go to a running room for rest if they are out of their headquarters. Before 2014, these running rooms were in very poor condition. Now, nearly all (558) running rooms have been upgraded to be air-conditioned, and many of them are also equipped with foot massagers. Vaishnaw noted that the provision of these amenities has been criticized by Congress, which, he argued, does not fully understand the demanding working conditions faced by loco pilots.
