Ashwini Vaishnaw counters Rahul Gandhi's claims on loco pilots: 'Lot of misinformation, theatrics'

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said that loco pilots are important members of the railway family and that there was a lot of misinformation and theatrics by the opposition to demotivate them. His response was aimed at Rahul Gandhi, who last week met a group of loco pilots, who reportedly complained of "inadequate rest due to understaffing".

The railway minister rejected this claim, saying the duty hours of loco pilots are carefully monitored. He said the rest is provided meticulously after trips. "The avg. duty hours are maintained within prescribed hours. The avg. is less than 8 hours in the month of June this year. Only under exigencies, the trip duration exceeds the prescribed hours," he said in a tweet.

Vaishnaw said pilots operate locomotives from loco cab. "Before 2014, cabs were in very bad shape. Since 2014, cabs have been improved with ergonomic seats, and more than 7,000 loco cabs are air conditioned. New locomotives are manufactured with AC cabs," he said.

On off-duty resting facility, the minister said that when pilots complete a trip, they come to the running room for rest if they are out of headquarters. He added that before 2014, running rooms were in very bad shape. "Almost all (558) running rooms are now air-conditioned."

In many running rooms, the minister continued, foot massagers are also provided. "Incidentally, this was criticised by Congress without understanding the working conditions of loco pilots."

The minister also sought to dispel the claim that loco pilots were not getting rest because the railway was not doing enough recruitment. He said in the past few years, a major recruitment exercise was completed and 34,000 running staff had been recruited. "Recruitment process for 18,000 running staff is currently in process," he said.

"The attempt to demoralise railway family with fake news will fail. The entire rail parivar is united in serving our country," the minister said.

Last Friday, Rahul Gandhi met around 50 loco pilots from all over India at the New Delhi railway station and they explained to him their issues, party sources told news agency PTI. The loco pilots complained of inadequate rest. The loco pilots drive trains over long distances and are often pressed into duty without adequate breaks, the sources said. This causes great stress and lapses in concentration which is a major cause of accidents, they added.

This has been acknowledged by the Indian Railways in multiple reports, including the recent probe in the accident in Vishakapatnam, the agency said citing sources. The loco pilots demand a weekly rest of 46 hours, which means a train driver returning home on Friday afternoon will return to duty no later than Sunday morning.

According to the Congress, the loco pilots demanded that two consecutive nights of duty should be followed by one night of rest, and trains should have basic amenities for drivers. The lack of rest is caused by understaffing due to the government halting recruitment of loco pilots, the sources claimed.

(With inputs from PTI)