The failure to implement an all-important recommendation to post an additional station master (SM) in railway stations with double line operations and for single line sections where track utilisation is over 85% is posing a major safety threat to railway operations, according to the All India Station Masters’ Association (AISMA).
“This failure to post the second SM led to the incident in which two trains were allowed simultaneously from both ends — Tirumangalam and Kalligudi railway stations — in the Madurai-Virudhunagar section (on May 9),” the association’s former general secretary (south zone), V.R. Vijayaraghavan, told The Hindu .
The recommendation was made by the Railway Safety Review Committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Khanna, following serious rail accidents in Kasi and Gaisal in the 1990s, which claimed many lives.
“Though fortunately an accident was averted on May 9 due to timely action by Station Masters on both ends, the administration, as usual, has found two scapegoats — a station master and a controller,” Mr. Vijayaraghavan said.
The high-level committee, which made several observations on the “averted accident”, has not gone into the administration’s failure in posting additional station masters in the railway stations on the Madurai-Virudhunagar single-line section which, even in 2017-18, had a track utilisation of 111%.
The committee observed that the duties of SMs had increased manifold after the closure of cabins on both sides of railway stations upon the introduction of centralised panels. Besides, the number of goods and passenger trains had increased 9 times, compared to the 1950s.
The increase in the length and speed of trains and the length of platforms were also considered. The SMs at wayside stations had multifarious duties like issuance of tickets, supervision of shunting and personnel duties like maintenance of muster roll, leave, claims of pay and allowances, issuance of Pass/PTO to staff, stores, cleaning of station premises, public call attendance and announcements.
“The SMs have to go to points, traffic level-crossing gates (nearby stations) to ensure the setting and locking of them manually during failure of various safety equipment. This caused not only delay in operation of other trains, but also caused stress in SMs,” he added.
Hence, the panel recommended the creation of an additional SM post in each shift in all double line stations and at single line stations with 85% or more line utilisation.
After prolonged deliberations, the Railway Board issued orders to create additional SM posts in 2002, following which the Chief Operating Officer issued an order to create 484 posts in the Southern Railways in 2004.
“However, the administration sat over this order and restricted the number of additional SM posts to 307 in 2007. The worst part is that even after this, the created posts were not filled, and only around 100 new postings were made,” alleged Mr. Vijayaraghavan.
A senior SM said 13 stations were identified for the posting of additional SMs in the Tiruchi-Tirunelveli section. However, only seven postings in the Tiruchi-Madurai section were made, and stations like Tirumangalam, Tirupparankundram, Thullukkapatti, Sattur, Kovilpatti and Kadambur in the Madurai-Tirunelveli section did not see such postings at all.
“Unfortunately, this factor never found a mention in the report of the committee comprising officers from different departments that probed the safety lapse,” he added.
