The CITU-led Dakshin Railway Employees Union (DREU) has said that trains will be stopped for two minutes at stations on Sunday as part of its strike demanding immediate filling of vacancies of station masters. DREU supporters will bring trains to a halt for two minutes by not giving green signal to the train.
K. Asokan, central vice-president of the union, said here on Friday that the strike was also to demand implementation of a decision, taken in April 2002 by the Railway Board, that the services of two station masters be provided in stations that have two railway tracks as well as in single-track stations where 85 per cent of capacity was being utilised.
“The responsibility for averting the inconvenience to passengers, on account of the strike on Sunday, rests squarely on Railway authorities,” he said.
According to him, there were 342 vacancies of stationmasters in the Railways. Another 300 stationmasters would be needed to implement the Railway Board's decision to post two station masters.
The union had been complaining that workload of employees was increasing steadily. “Extra workload would undermine efficiency of staff who take care of safety aspects of train travel,” he warned, demanding steps to avert the strike on Sunday.
