After Near-Miss Incident, Rly Station Masters Relieved of Non-Core Duties

AFTER a near-miss incident in which a collision between two express trains was averted at the last minute between Kovilpatti and Kadambur stations on June 24, Southern Railway has decided to relieve station masters from non-core duties such as ticket issuance, public announcement system maintenance, and other unrelated tasks, to improve operational safety.

- B ANBUSELVAN @Chennai

According to sources, the incident was allegedly caused due to lack of communication between a loco pilot and a station master.

While an alert railway official had managed to avert the collision by cutting the power supply to one of the trains, three railway officials, including Senior Divisional Operations Manager of the Madurai railway division, were suspended last month based on the findings of a safety audit report, official sources said.

As per an order issued by General Manager R N Singh dated July 4, all station masters of railway stations handling more than 24 trains per day must be relieved from their non-core duties before September 1.