A woman loco pilot was mowed down by a speeding train in West Bengal's Malda division when she was crossing the track to return to the engine after a 'washroom break'.
Loco pilots unions have lodged a strong protest against rail administration for failing to provide washroom facilities inside the engine or taking other adequate measures to provide washroom breaks to loco pilots.
According to railway officials, loco pilot S K Mandal and his assistant Maharani Kumari took an engine from Malda station to Mahipal Road railway station to bring back empty passenger coaches.
"At 6:40 in the evening, Maharani told Mandal that she was going for a washroom break in the station building. She crossed a couple of tracks to reach the washroom to answer nature's call. While returning, she couldn't see a speeding Nabadwip Dham Express due to curvature and came under it. The train was running at around 100 kmph at the time of incident," a loco pilot from the Malda division said.
He added, "There is a strong resentment among all train drivers in the division and about 2000 odd female train drivers across the country who have been protesting for various facilities for their safety during train operations."
Ravi Ranjan, branch president of All India Loco Running Staff Association, has demanded immediate financial relief to the family of the deceased and washroom facilities in all the locos.
"It is an unfortunate incident. It shows how lack of washroom facility for loco pilots inside the engine turned out to be fatal for a female driver. Though the new engines, which are being manufactured, have the washroom facilities, it will take years to replace the old ones with the new ones. So, the rail administration must take some adequate steps so that similar incidents can be prevented in further," Ranjan said.
Women loco pilots have been raising to the rail administration various challenges at work leading to unsafe working conditions for the past few years. They have written to the Railway Board many times demanding various facilities for their safety.
In April, 2024, Rekha, a 28-year-old guard, was assaulted by some goons when the freight train she was deployed in stopped at a red signal ahead of Madurai Railway Station.
"We have been demanding from the Railway Ministry to either provide facilities for our safe working or shift our duties from train driving to other office work because it is a very unsafe work profile for a woman," a woman loco pilot said.
"We do late night or early morning shifts without any pickup and drop facilities. We are not given leaves during early days of pregnancy when chances of miscarriage are quite high. We have to answer nature's call often along the track in the dark at night because of lack of washroom facilities in the engine. There are several other issues which demand immediate attention of rail administration," she added.
Women loco pilots said that many of them are facing lots of health issues, multiple miscarriages and injuries due to women unfriendly nature of the job.
Some of them have said that they will write to the railway ministry once again demanding change of their job profile in the light of the run-over incident in Malda Division.
In May, 2024, the Ministry of Labour constituted a high powered committee to work out modalities to 'provide defined time intervals for food and attending calls of nature while on duty for Loco Running Staff of Indian Railway'.
Despite that, the female loco pilots said that nothing concrete has come out yet.
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