New Delhi | If things go according to plan, loco pilots and guards will no longer have to carry their personal belongings and official equipment in iron trunks and can use trolley bags instead.
In a letter to all its zones, the Railway Board asked them to provide trolley bags to the loco pilots and guards.
"Zonal Railways are requested to start implementing the policy decision of providing trolley bags to loco pilots and guards," the Railway Board said in the letter dated July 19.
According to railway officials, the Board had initiated this move in 2006 with a comprehensive instruction. A year later, it issued another guideline after discussions with trade unions for its implementation on a trial basis.
However, it remained pending for implementation for another 11 years due to stiff opposition from loco pilots and guards.
In 2018, the Board once again took a decision to push the scheme in two zones - Northern Railways and South Central Railways - for trial.
After positive feedback from the various trials, the Board issued a final order on February 21, 2022 in which it said, "Trolley bags may be provided to loco pilots and guards in lieu of line box (iron trunk). Zonal Railways may decide to procure & distribute or give allowance in lieu of trolley bags purchased by the crew themselves. The allowance to be limited to Rs 5000 for every 3 years." The order, besides directing departments concerned to standardise equipment in trolley bags, also asked to provide soft copies of railway rules and manuals to reduce the weight of the trolley bag.
But the All India Guards Council and other stakeholders concerned challenged this order at various legal fora, including Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT) Principal Bench at New Delhi, forcing the railways to put it on hold.
"Whenever a loco pilot (train driver) or a guard (officially called train manager) signs on for train duty, he keeps an iron trunk weighing over 20 kg to the engine/guard cabin as it carries railway norms, various equipment as well as his personal belongings," a railway official said.
"To carry the heavy iron trunk, they are provided with a porter who takes the box to their respective cabins," the official added.
The Railway Board emphasised before the CAT several benefits of doing away with the services of porters. For instance, it said that besides monetary savings due to termination of Box Boy contracts; it would also save detention time of trains on account of loading/unloading of heavy boxes to and from the engine or guard's coach.
On the other hand, the guards' union argued that the order was arbitrary and that the Railways was imposing duties of box porters/box boys on train managers.
The other crucial concern of the guards union was that they had to carry detonators composed of potassium chlorate, sulphur, sand, binder and neutralizer issued by Ordnance Factory Board to Indian Railways for specific purposes during train operations.
They argued that often they have to leave their cabin and come out of it during train operation at many isolated locations.
"In such a situation, these detonators are safe in the iron trunk which is locked and difficult to carry. However, it is easy to take away the carry bags with detonators from the Guard's cabin," said SP Singh, former general secretary of All India Guards Council.
Finally, on February 8, the CAT refused to grant any relief to the guards' body and said it would not interfere with the railway ministry's order paving the way for the Board to implement its decision.
Following the CAT order, the Board on July 19, issued letters to all the zones asking them to start providing trolley bags to loco pilots and guards.
The guard's body has now challenged the CAT'S order in the Delhi High Court hoping for a favourable decision.
"We are ready to accept the in-built box in the brake van (guard's cabin) if the Railways comes out with any such proposal," Singh told PTI
