With no facility of on-board lavatories for the railway loco pilots in 2014, the Indian Railways enhanced with more than 9,000 facilties to improve the working conditions of train pilots.
The facilities includes urinals, air conditioned well furnished running rooms. As per railways data, before 2014 there was not a single running room with adequate recreational facilties for the loco pilots who at one go ferries about 1000 lives from one destination to another.
Further more than half the locomotive cabs have been upgraded with ergonomic seats, air conditioning and other improvements. “Toilets are being fitted in all new locos manufactured henceforth. This was not even part of the production plan before 2014.
Older locomotives are being retrofitted with toilets. Design modifications are being done in older locomotives for this purpose. New running rooms are being added on the routes with heavy congestion. These steps have already brought down the working hours significantly,” said a senior railway official.
New safety features like fog safety devices, Kavach, driver alert systems and better technology for braking systems are further improving safety. Onboard facilities, better technologies, and better rest timings are also improving the working conditions, claimed the officials.
“Railway takes care for necessary requirements of all type of loco pilots. Goods Trains stop at many stations and yards for significant time. Timing at these stations is sufficient for using toilets. Crew also use this time for light snacks,’ added the official.
“In suburban trains, loco pilots work on short distance trains and crew of these trains use toilets at terminal stations. Crew of passenger trains use toilet of train when train is standing at station and also use this time for snacks. All above steps are continuously being implemented,” he explained.
Last year in July Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi courted a controversy after he visited New Delhi railways station and raised work conditions of the loco pilots which was immediately countered by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who accused the Opposition of trying to demoralise the Railway family with fake news.
