New Delhi: The East Central Railway zone has started installing air conditioning units in running rooms at the Saharsa junction after the loco pilots refused to use them for out-of-home rest.
The loco pilots said that when the temperature was quite high on May 9, they boycotted the running rooms near the station and took rest in a crew lobby, which is meant for reporting of duty and new assignments.
The Samsatipur division, under which the Saharsa junction comes, took swift action to resolve the running staff’s concern and placed an order for 273 AC machines for all rooms and common areas.
“The installation process was immediately put in place the moment the ACs delivery started and a lot of rooms are now equipped with air conditioning machines,” said a railway official, adding all rooms will be fitted with ACs in a day or two.
All India Loco Running Staff Association zonal president D.P Srivastav said that Samastipur Division used to give contracts to private companies to offer ACs in running rooms during the summer season.
“The private companies used to remove all the ACs just after the expiry of the tender period. After that, the Railway administration used to start the process for tender for next year’s summer season,” he said.
Srivastav said that hiring AC on rent through a tender process was a practice prevalent only in Samastipur Division out of all other divisions.
“It was not a good practice as due to delay in the finalisation of tender often situations arose when loco pilots had to take rest in the crew lobby. It is a good step that the division has started purchasing ACs,” he added.
The loco pilots said that it was not possible to sleep comfortably in the running room since the temperatures are rising day by day and hence they were forced to occupy the AC-equipped crew lobby.
“Mail and express train drivers slept on the floor because the crew lobby is not supposed to have facilities for night rest. A sound sleep for a loco pilot is very crucial for safe train operation. The rail administration must ensure that,” said a loco pilot.
