At last, toilets in train engines to help drivers relieve stress
Archive Dated Tue Sep 24 2013
In fact, the stress levels of loco-pilots have often been blamed for many rail accidents in recent years.
That its train engine drivers, or loco-pilots as it calls
them now, work under extremely stressful conditions has been Indian Railways'
worst kept secret.
In fact, the stress levels
of loco-pilots have often been blamed for many rail accidents in recent years.
And now, a panel looking into the matter has zeroed in on a very basic
facility, the lack of which has added substantially to stress levels of these
men: toilets inside locomotives.
The committee "to
review the duty hours of running and other safety related categories of
staff" has recommended "a suitable waterless type urinal" on
"every locomotive as an immediate measure" to take care of the
problem.
"Difficulties are
being experienced by the loco running staff at present due to non-availability
of toilets in the locomotives. The problem is much more on super fast trains
which run for 4 to 5 hours continuously at a stretch without any
stoppage," the committee, headed by former food processing secretary D P
Tripathi, has said.
The report, which was
submitted to the railways ministry, has stressed the need for toilets in locos
saying this "problem is likely to get further aggravated in future with
more and more induction of ladies in loco running cadre".
Even on faster
long-distance trains such as the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis, loco-pilots have had
to contend with travelling long distances without a toilet break until now. The
only time they could use a toilet has been during halts at intermediary
stations, having had little option but to "hold on".
In point-to-point non-stop
Duronto trains, the only "window" the loco-pilots have for a toilet
break is during the train's technical halts.
Privately, officials admit
that there have been instances when
a loco-pilot had to stop
the train in the middle of a section to relieve himself.
"A few months back, we
came up with a prototype of a retro-fitted toilet in a diesel locomotives. All
we are now awaiting is a policy decision from the Railway Board on the matter.
The recommendations of this committee will only help us get a stronger mandate
to do the same," a senior railway official said.
In 2010, a team of railway
doctors had carried out a detailed study on the working of loco-pilots to
identify their stress levels and the factors responsible for stress build-up.
As many as 100 loco-pilots were part of this study and while most of the
findings-from postural discomfort and non-spacious and noisy workplace to long
duty hours with improper rest-were on expected lines, "the absence of
toilets" in locomotives came as a revelation.
In addition to toilets, the
report has recommended an overall makeover of the locomotives-ranging from
air-conditioning the cabin to providing cameras along with a display unit that
can ensure that loco-pilots don't have to peep out of the window and look back
frequently for viewing the train formation and the guard's signal.
Air-conditioning has been
proposed as the committee found temperatures inside loco cabins during summers
were "quite unbearable"— as high as 61 degrees celsius in diesel
locos and 51.8 degrees celsius in electric locos.
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