Vacancies in loco pilot posts cause hardship to commuters in Chennai division

The loco pilots of the Southern Railway launched a hunger fast on Tuesday, putting forth various demands including the filling of assistant loco pilot (ALP) vacancies, which has been pending for long. The loco pilots demanded that they be relieved from being made to operate the trains in order to stable them in the railway yards. 

The non-filling of vacancies of the ALPs has resulted in loco pilots being forced to work for long hours causing health issues, complained loco pilots. This has also resulted in inconvenience to the public.

V. Balachandran, Central organising secretary of the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) said the demands include increasing the kilometre allowance (KMA) by 25% similar to the travel allowance for other railway staff, exemption of 70% of KMA from income tax, and expediting the deploying of the ALPs who have been recruited. Also, the loco pilots are demanding 16 hours rest in headquarters along with 30 hours of periodic rest. 

The Chennai division of Southern Railway which operates hundreds of suburban, mail and express trains has been mainly facing shortage of loco pilots. To overcome the shortage of loco pilots, the Southern railway had even planned to recruit retired loco pilots, which was strongly opposed by AILRSA citing safety reasons. 

Transport activist Dayanand Krishnan, in a recent data procured through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, had found 461 vacancies existing in Chennai division alone, with vacancies for passenger loco pilots, motorman, mail loco pilots, and goods loco pilots. For the divisions of Tiruchi, Madurai, and Salem, the vacancies are only a few. Also, the loco pilots of Chennai division are suffering from disproportionate workloads caused due to the vacancies. 

Social activist T. Sadagopan said the vacancies for loco pilots in suburban trains has resulted in reduction of several services across all sections, particularly the west section, causing hardships to commuters travelling from Arakkonam and Tiruvallur.