The Council took action following recent incidents in which two drivers broke the 20 km/h speed limit at a river bridge.
The Railway Board has constituted a committee to investigate the reasons for violation of speed restrictions by train drivers at various points between the origin and destination stations, which is detrimental to safe train operations.
According to sources, the Board took action after recent incidents in which two train drivers violated the 20 km/h speed limit at a river bridge, which was under maintenance, and ran their trains at a speed of 120 km/h.
In the first incident, the locomotive pilot and assistant locopilot of the Gatiman Express, India’s first semi-high-speed train that runs at a speed of 160 kmph between Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi and Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction in Uttar Pradesh, violated the advisory speed limit. between Jajau and Mania railway station near Agra Cantt.
Just a few days after the Gatiman incident, the drivers of another train Malwa Express, which runs between Katra (Jammu) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), also committed a similar offense at the same place and diverted the train at a speed of 120 km /you.
Soon after these incidents, the Railway Board issued a circular to all zones on June 3 and informed: “The Railway Board has constituted a committee to review the warning orders issued to loco pilots and train managers (guards).”
“The committee wishes to interact with Loco Pilots through video conference to understand the issues related to alert orders at the field level,” the circular added, asking all zones to nominate Loco Pilots from each division for a meeting on 5 June.
“Over 180 locomotive pilots and locomotive inspectors participated in the meeting and came up with various suggestions to ensure that speed restrictions are adhered to in letter and spirit,” said a locomotive pilot, who was part of the virtual meeting.
The Railways impose speed restrictions for the safe operation of the trains for various reasons such as the condition of the track, ongoing track repair works, old railway bridges and renovation of the station premises etc.
The railway officials said that before boarding the locomotive, the loco pilots and their assistants are provided with a complete route map, along with advisories and speed limit warnings, from the operational department concerned and are expected to maintain speed accordingly.
While driving, the assistant driver shouts out these advice and warnings loudly and repeats them for confirmation.
“Several suggestions were made during the meeting. For example, some of the drivers suggested that a train guard should remind a driver via a walkie-talkie 3 km before the starting point of the speed limit. This practice is being followed by the guards of Kota division and it was requested to make it applicable to the entire railways,” said another loco pilot, who attended the meeting.
“Some drivers wanted the warning order to be given in bold letters with a larger font size on white A4-sized paper. They also said that drivers should be provided with highlighters in different colors to mark the restrictions for their convenience,” he added.
The participants further indicated that during the meeting it was also discussed whether permanent speed restriction (PSR) should also become part of the warning order.
“Normally, only temporary warning orders are given to the drivers on a sheet of paper, but it was suggested that PSR should also be mentioned,” said a loco pilot.
“The committee will examine these suggestions and consider other ways to decide whether it is necessary to change the operating norms regarding speed limits in the interest of safe train operations,” a Railway Board source said.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: June 16, 2024 | 3:01 PM IST