Salem Division of the Southern Railway plans to appoint from next week senior most ticket checking staff as Train Captains in three long distance mail/express trains operating under its control, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The concept of Train Captain was introduced in 12671/12672 Mettupalayam-Chennai Central-Mettupalayam Nilgiri Express in the second week of January 2017 on a pilot basis.
The official told The Hindu that the division is in the process of nominating senior most ticket checking staff as Train Captain for the three long distance mail/express trains orginating from Coimbatore and Salem junctions. This is in line with the recent circular of the railway board, which has said that all the zonal railways have to introduce the concept of single person/leader responsible for co-ordinating the entire team and facilitating all services during the complete journey of the train.
Premium trains such as Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duranto have Train Superintendent on end-to-end basis. All onboard railway personnel and supervisors of all outsourcing agencies shall report to the Train Captain, as it would help ensure improvement in on-board services, the circular said.
The divisional railway has to ensure that the name and contact number of the Train Captain is available to the passsengers through reservation charts and the same should be reached to every reserved passenger travelling in the trains.
Following the circular, the Salem Division is in the process of introducing Train Captain for Train No. 22666/22665 Coimbatore-KSR Bengaluru-Coimbatore UDAY Express, 12673/12674 Coimbatore-Chennai Central-Coimbatore Cheran Express and 22154/22153 Salem-Chennai Egmore-Salem Express from the beginning of next week, a top official of the Salem Division said.
The Salem division is operating an average of 90 express/mail trains every week, the official adds.
