Southern Railway drops action against loco pilots of relief engine

Southern Railway withdraws chargesheet against loco pilots in Salem Division for not contacting TLC, citing lack of pressure.

Southern Railway has withdrawn the chargesheet proposing punishment against loco pilots of a relief engine in Salem Division.

Claiming that the loco pilots were not pressured into violating safety rules, a railway spokesperson on Saturday said that the disciplinary action was initiated only on the grounds that they did not contact the Traction Loco Controller (TLC). However, the action was dropped after thorough “counselling of the employees”.

On Saturday, The Hindu published a report stating that the loco pilots of a relief engine were allegedly pressured into running the engine at 50 kmph instead of the maximum prescribed limit of 15 kmph to prevent loss of punctuality. The incident occurred in the Salem Division on March 14 this year when a freight train was held up due to a locomotive failure between Veerapandi Road and Magudan Chavidi railway stations, resulting in a section block. A freight train that followed was detained at Veerapandi Road railway station and the locomotive was detached for relief operation.

The Station Master gave the ‘T/A 602’ authorisation, enabling the loco pilot to cross the red signal and enter an occupied section to move the stranded freight train to the next destination. As per the speed restrictions prescribed in the travel authority, the loco pilots operated the engine at 15 kmph.

While Southern Railway claimed that there was no pressure on the loco pilots to violate the safety norms, The Hindu has accessed an audio clip of the telephonic conversation between the Chief Loco Inspector (CLI) on duty and loco pilot Kalu Ram Meena.In the conversation, which happened at the time of the incident, the CLI is heard instructing the loco pilot to run the relief engine at 50 kmph. While Mr. Meena said that he was operating the engine only at 15 kmph, as mentioned in the travel authority, the CLI is heard saying that three trains were detained and reiterated his instruction to run the engine at 50 kmph. Asked why he did not call the TLC, the loco pilot said that there was no instruction to do so.

The loco pilots were issued chargesheets (now cancelled) for not contacting the TLC before entering the occupied section and blamed for loss of punctuality.

Going by the content published in the Indian Railways Institute of Transport Management, ‘T/A 602’ is an authority for relief engine/train to proceed into an occupied block section. It authorises the loco pilot to run the relief engine/train at 15 kmph in the day and 10 kmph in the night.