Railway Ministry changes outstation rest rules for train crew; Union calls it 'unlawful order'

New Delhi: The Railway Ministry has announced new outstation rest rules for train crew to bring uniformity among distinct practices currently prevalent in different railway zones and divisions.

However, the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) has strongly opposed the move in a letter to the Railway Board, calling it an "unlawful order" as, according to them, it violates the Ministry's previous orders.

A Ministry's circular dated June 3, addressed to the General Manager of the Centre for Railway Information System said that there are six different types of outstation rest in terms of duration for running staff in Indian Railways.

"The matter has been examined and in order to maintain uniformity in outstation rest conforming to the extant rules, the following has been approved by the Board," the circular said, specifying three types of rest norms.

The circular has permitted 8-hour rest for those running staff who will do 8 hours of duty and 6-hour rest for those doing 5 to 8 hours of duty.

It said that those running staff who work for 5 hours or less, they would get one hour more than the duration of duty.

"CRIS is advised to disable all other types of outstation rest in the CMS (Crew Management System) application," the Ministry added.

On the other hand, the AILRSA said that the Ministry's letter will seriously impact safe rail operations as it completely disregards the Hours of Employment rules of the High Power Committee set up by the Ministry in 2016.

The Union office bearers said that the Committee was of the view that any outstation rest which is of a duration of less than 8 hous, is highly inadequate because the running staff spend considerable time on many other activities during this period besides resting.

They said that, for instance, the crew need time to travel from lobby to the running room, to fulfil personal hygiene needs, to get meals prepared and to eat among others.

K C James, Secretary General, AILRSA, said, "Thus, the actual time available to the running staff for rest/sleep is much less than 8 hours whereas the minimum requirement for sleep is 8 hours."

"AILRSA has also mentioned in their memoranda that the actual time available at outstation for resting after the time spent by the running staff in the above-mentioned activities is less than the time required to recoup from fatigue of the incoming trip and be ready for the outgoing trip," he added.

According to the Union, the High Power Committee said that linking the outstation rest only to the duration of the incoming trip is not logical, as the rest granted is for recuperating from fatigue for the onward journey.

"If the Loco Pilot is not granted adequate rest before performing the outgoing trip, which may be too long, his alertness level may be affected due to this," James said.

Urging the Ministry to reconsider the decision, he added, "It is not only in the interest of the railway's safety, but the decision should be withdrawn on humanitarian grounds as train crews are also human first and railway servants later."