Railway probe reveals officials forcing loco pilots to overwork, manipulate working hours

New Delhi | A probe conducted by the South Central Railway on the working hours of loco pilots has revealed that the crew officials forced loco pilots to work for 13-15 hours compromising safety of train operations.

According to the norms, a loco pilot can't be asked to work more than 11 hours at a stretch.

The matter came to light after a loco pilot of goods train, R Ravi Shankar from Secunderabad (SC) division, refused to attend to call for duty alleging that he was not given enough time for rest.

"On analysis of his working hours it was found that LPG (R Ravi Shankar) working hours were 13:55 hrs as per CMS report and when compared with divisions' explanation, it was stated that LPG has worked 15 hours," a circular dated April 22, 2025 issued by the South Central Railway Headquarter said.

It added, "It was further confirmed by Shri R Ravi Shankar, LPG/GALA (Loco pilot, goods from Gunadala) that his actual working hours were 14:26 hrs, 31 minutes of his working hours were deducted to avoid above 14 hrs cases being reported in CMS." In light of the facts, the Railways launched a probe of the CMS (crew management system) report and was shocked to see that "there were 620 cases of LPG working between 13:55 hours to 14:00 hours (01.04.2025 to 19.04.2025) in SCR." "Out of total 620 cases, 545 cases are of SC division," the circular said.

"Such a high number of cases (working hours between 13:55 to 14:00) indicates that while signing off, crew are being forced to feed incorrect time," it added.

The SCR scrutiny also showed 42 cases in Vijayawada division, 26 in Guntakal, three each in Guntur and Nanded and one in Hyderabad division, where working hours of LPG were between 13:55 to 14:00 hours.

"It is a serious irregularity and should be stopped immediately," the SCR circular said.

"Practically, such practices make data favourable and stifle the initiative to improve train running. Further it leads to under-rest booking of crew, which is against the safe running of trains," it added.

The circular asked the senior office bearers to issue necessary instructions to crew lobby officials not to resort to such practices.

"Any manipulation of data related with train operations should be viewed seriously and appropriate action should be initiated against erring employees," the circular warned.