GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)
REPORT OF HIGH POWER COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE DUTY
HOURS OF RUNNING AND OTHER SAFETY RELATED
CATEGORIES OF STAFF.
AUGUST, 2013
REPORT OF HIGH POWER COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE DUTY HOURS OF
RUNNING AND OTHER SAFETY RELATED CATEGORIES OF STAFF

[D.P.TRIPATHI, (V.K.MANGLIK) (M.S.KHAN) AMAR NATH)

IRTS (Retd.)] IRSME (Retd.) IRAS (Retd.) IRSEE(Retd.)
CHAIRMAN MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER

AUGUST, 2013
CONTENTS
Chapter DescriptionPage no
.
---
Foreword I
Introduction 1 II
Background 4 III
Methodology Adopted 28 IV
Duty / Rest Hours of Running Staff 37 V
Safety Categories and their Duty hours 197 VI
Monetary compensation for work beyond 235 duty hours /breach of rest. VII
Resting facilities for Running Staff 252
VIII Other Matters 288 IX
Recommendations 300 ---- Annexures I
Nomination of High Power Committee 319 II
Questionnaires 324
III
Duty & Rest Hours of Running Staff 331 on other Railway systems
IV Working details of Running Staff in
347
respect of duty hours at a stretch
V Statement of Stay Away from Headquarter for Running Staff. 351
VI Details of SPAD cases 352
(01.04.2011 to 01.09.2012).
VII Working details of Crew involved in SPAD cases (Sample check). 363
VIII Analysis of Motorman Link pertaining to CSTM, Central Railway (Sample check) 372
IX Existing list of safety category posts. 377
X Existing rosters received from North 381
Western Railway and Eastern Railway for “Intensive” category staff.
XI Proposed roster received from 383
North Western Railway for “Intensive” category staff.

Foreword
The High Power Committee (Running & Safety) was mandated to look
into two broad issues namely Hours of Employment of Running Staff and
Review of Safety Categories staff over Indian Railways. These two groups of
staff are directly responsible for safe and orderly train operations and their
concerns are matter of high priority for Railway management.
Working hours are one of the biggest concerns of wage earning
employees and in India these have been settled by various labour laws
enacted before and after independence, all of which draw inspiration from the
Washington Convention of 1919 and Geneva Convention of 1921 ratified by
the British India Government in 1923. On the Indian Railways three landmark
developments have helped in the evolution of the present framework of
working hours in which this system operates; these are Railways Amendment
Act 1931, Rajadhyaksha Committee Report 1946 (Adjudicators Award) and
Miabhoy Tribunal Award 1969-72.
In recent times long working hours of running staff have been singled
out as a major factor responsible for a number of ills afflicting the Railway
system. The demands of the running staff and their
representatives/Federations for rationalising the hours of work have been on
the management’s table for almost two decades now. The Ministry of
Railways has therefore rightly sought comprehensive relook at the Hours of
Employment Regulations of Running staff.
The second mandate is regarding the Review of the Safety Categories.
Categorizing some posts for differential treatment is a phenomenon which is
probably unique to Indian Railways; this nomenclature seeks to represent a
group of posts which plays direct role in ensuring safe transportation of
passengers and goods over the vast railway network. Since 1974 when the
first list of safety categories was issued, there has been a steady demand to
put more and more categories under this nomenclature, as a result of which
this group has become a highly incongruous collection of posts without any
uniform basis of identity. It is also seen that no universally acceptable
definition exists for this categorization and posts have been clubbed under it
for reasons which may not be directly aimed at safety enhancement. The
Committee has attempted to provide the much needed definition for ‘safety
categories’ after holding wide ranging discussions with stakeholders and has
made recommendations to bring about direct correlation between operational
safety and criticality of function.
The recommendations of the Committee are based on the following
premises arrived at after due deliberations:
(a)To address the seeming sense of discrimination amongst the
running staff that they have to work for longer periods than other
railway staff without provision of adequate rest.
(b)The Running staff needs to be seen as normal human beings,
having social and personal obligations just as all other people .
(c)Scientific researches/studies which establish that night rest cannot be substituted by day rest.
(d)Ill equipped facilities at Running Rooms do not fulfil genuine need for
outstation rest, which administration assumes to have been provided.
(e)Higher monetary compensation alone does not compensate for
inadequate rest, disruption in familial ties and unhealthy work and rest environment.
(f)The recommendations be seen in totality and not only from the point of view of duty hours, but total
rationalisation of working environment of running staff, e.g. duty hours, night working, periodical rest, cab
improvement, running-room improvement etc.
(g)The recommendations have kept in view the futuristic scenario of
IR as envisaged in the Vision document-2020 Even though two major Committees namely Justice ajyadhaksha
Committee and Miabhoy Tribunal had done seminal work in their allotted areas of work, each was represented
by only one of the two Federations of the Railway unions. The present Committee however had the advantage
of freely interacting with both the Railway Federations besides several other groups of staff associations.
The Committee was initially allowed a term of one year but looking into the wide scope of the terms of
reference especially the safety categories, the Ministry extended the tenure by another year and three months.
This period was used to hold extensive discussions with all stakeholders both at its Headquarters at New Delhi
and at the Zonal and Divisional HQs besides field visits.. The Federations submitted rich and well researched
literature backing their views and demands and the Committee is grateful to them for the same,
particularly their respective General Secretaries S/Shri M. Raghavaiah, of NFIR and Shiv Gopal Mishra of
AIRF.
The Committee also benefitted from the suggestions and inputs given by Shri Shubhranshu, Secretary
General of the Federation of Railway Officers Association, Shri Vishnu Kumar, ED, Psycho Tech. Cell, RDSO.
The Committee had extremely useful and thought provoking interaction with AM /Traffic, AM / Mech., AM /
Elect., AM / Works, Advisor / Safety and Adviser / Signalling and other senior officials of the Railway Board.
The Committee is, in particular, grateful to Shri D.P.Pandey, the then AdditionalMember/Traffic and presently
Member Traffic for giving the Committee an insight into the future traffic pattern of the Railways. The
Committee was also given a presentation by the Managing Director, DFCCIL about the freight traffic scenario
on completion of the DFCCIL project in 2016. The Committee is grateful to Shri Nasim Zaidi, IAS, Secretary,
Civil Aviation for facilitating the
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)
REPORT OF HIGH POWER COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE DUTY
HOURS OF RUNNING AND OTHER SAFETY RELATED
CATEGORIES OF STAFF.
AUGUST, 2013
REPORT OF HIGH POWER COMMITTEE TO REVIEW
THE DUTY HOURS OF RUNNING AND OTHER
SAFETY RELATED CATEGORIES OF STAFF

[D.P.TRIPATHI, (V.K.MANGLIK) ( M.S.KHAN) (AMAR NATH)

IRTS (Retd.) IRSME (Retd.) IRAS (Retd.) IRSEE(Retd.)
CHAIRMAN MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER

AUGUST, 2013
CONTENTS
ChapterDescriptionPage no
.
---
Foreword
I Introduction 1
II Background 4
III Methodology Adopted 28
IV Duty / Rest Hours of Running Staff 37
V Safety Categories and their Duty hours 197
VI Monetary compensation for work beyondduty hours /breach of rest. 235
VII Resting facilities for Running Staff 252
VIII Other Matters 288
IX Recommendations 300
---- Annexures
I Nomination of High Power Committee 319
II Questionnaires 324
III Duty & Rest Hours of Running Staff on other Railway systems 331
IV Working details of Running Staff in respect of duty hours at a stretch 347
VStatement of Stay Away from Headquarter for Running Staff. 351
VI Details of SPAD cases (01.04.2011 to 01.09.2012). 352
VII Working details of Crew involved in SPAD cases (Sample check). 363
VIII Analysis of Motorman Link pertaining to CSTM, Central Railway (Sample
check)372

IX Existing list of safety category posts.

377
X
Existing rosters received from North
381
Western Railway and Eastern Railway
for “Intensive” category staff.
XI Proposed roster received from
383
North Western Railway for “Intensive”
category staff.
Foreword
The High Power Committee (Running & Safety) was mandated to look
into two broad issues namely Hours of Employment of Running Staff and
Review of Safety Categories staff over Indian Railways. These two groups of
staff are directly responsible for safe and orderly train operations and their
concerns are matter of high priority for Railway management.
Working hours are one of the biggest concerns of wage earning
employees and in India these have been settled by various labour laws
enacted before and after independence, all of which draw inspiration from the
Washington Convention of 1919 and Geneva Convention of 1921 ratified by
the British India Government in 1923. On the Indian Railways three landmark
developments have helped in the evolution of the present framework of
working hours in which this system operates; these are Railways Amendment
Act 1931, Rajadhyaksha Committee Report 1946 (Adjudicators Award) and
Miabhoy Tribunal Award 1969-72.
In recent times long working hours of running staff have been singled
out as a major factor responsible for a number of ills afflicting the Railway
system. The demands of the running staff and their
representatives/Federations for rationalising the hours of work have been on
the management’s table for almost two decades now. The Ministry of
Railways has therefore rightly sought comprehensive relook at the Hours of
Employment Regulations of Running staff.
The second mandate is regarding the Review of the Safety Categories.
Categorizing some posts for differential treatment is a phenomenon which is
probably unique to Indian Railways; this nomenclature seeks to represent a
group of posts which plays direct role in ensuring safe transportation of
passengers and goods over the vast railway network. Since 1974 when the
first list of safety categories was issued, there has been a steady demand to
put more and more categories under this nomenclature, as a result of which
this group has become a highly incongruous collection of posts without any
uniform basis of identity. It is also seen that no universally acceptable
definition exists for this categorization and posts have been clubbed under it
for reasons which may not be directly aimed at safety enhancement. The
Committee has attempted to provide the much needed definition for ‘safety
categories’ after holding wide ranging discussions with stakeholders and has
made recommendations to bring about direct correlation between operational
safety and criticality of function.
The recommendations of the Committee are based on the following
premises arrived at after due deliberations:
(a)
To address the seeming sense of discrimination amongst the
running staff that they have to work for longer periods than other
railway staff without provision of adequate rest.
(b)
The Running staff needs to be seen as normal human beings,
having social and personal obligations just as all other people .
(c)
Scientific researches/studies which establish that night rest cannot
be substituted by day rest.
(d)
Ill equipped facilities at Running Rooms do not fulfil genuine need for
outstation rest, which administration assumes to have been provided.
(e)
Higher monetary compensation alone does not compensate for
inadequate rest, disruption in familial ties and unhealthy work and rest
environment.
(f)
The recommendations be seen in totality and not only from the point of
view of duty hours, but total rationalisation of working environment
of running staff, e.g. duty hours, night working, periodical rest, cab
improvement, running-room improvement etc.
(g)
The recommendations have kept in view the futuristic scenario of
IR as envisaged in the Vision document-2020
Even though two major Committees namely Justice Rajyadhaksha
Committee and Miabhoy Tribunal had done seminal work in their allotted
areas of work, each was represented by only one of the two Federations of
the Railway unions. The present Committee however had the advantage of
freely interacting with both the Railway Federations besides several other
groups of staff associations.
The Committee was initially allowed a term of one year but looking into
the wide scope of the terms of reference especially the safety categories, the
Ministry extended the tenure by another year and three months. This period
was used to hold extensive discussions with all stakeholders both at its
Headquarters at New Delhi and at the Zonal and Divisional HQs besides field
visits.. The Federations submitted rich and well researched literature backing
their views and demands and the Committee is grateful to them for the same,
particularly their respective General Secretaries S/Shri M. Raghavaiah, of
NFIR and Shiv Gopal Mishra of AIRF.
The Committee also benefitted from the suggestions and inputs given
by Shri Shubhranshu, Secretary General of the Federation of Railway Officers
Association, Shri Vishnu Kumar, ED, Psycho Tech. Cell, RDSO. The
Committee had extremely useful and thought provoking interaction with AM /
Traffic, AM / Mech., AM / Elect., AM / Works, Advisor / Safety and Adviser /
Signalling and other senior officials of the Railway Board. The Committee
is, in particular, grateful to Shri D.P.Pandey, the then Additional
Member/Traffic and presently Member Traffic for giving the Committee an
insight into the future traffic pattern of the Railways. The Committee was also
given a presentation by the Managing Director, DFCCIL about the freight
traffic scenario on completion of the DFCCIL project in 2016. The Committee
is grateful to Shri Nasim Zaidi, IAS, Secretary, Civil Aviation for facilitating the