Chennai

The safety directorate of Indian Railway has advised divisional railway hospitals to engage a psychologist to depute staff for counselling as and when needed.

The suggestion has been made after a team of Indian Railway visited Germany and studied its national Railway company Deutesche Bahn (DB Railway) which deputes its loco pilots involved in accidents and incidents for counselling by psychologists to recover quickly and improve their concentration. An order issued by Railway Board on December 12, 2018 said a railway accident affects the mental state of the staff witnessing them. Admitting that the staff (loco pilots) working in stress would not be able to concentrate and that their performance may be affected, the order admitted that traumatic experiences may have an impact on the reaction time and increase the scope of mistakes in train working. However, the Indian Railway does not have a system in place to assist its loco pilots prone to trauma. A member of All Indian Loco Running Staff Association requesting anonymity said, “Whether it is a human being or cattle, loco pilots stop the train and immediately alert the guard who will inform the control to provide medical assistance whenever there is a run over. Most pilots refuse to eat after witnessing these incidents. I have experienced it. It takes a while to return to normalcy.” “We haven’t had counselling or departmental assistance till now. Only if it’s an accident does a loco pilot get a break and that too for departmental inquiry. He is assigned duty the moment inquiry is over,” said another loco pilot.

Meanwhile, the deputy chief electrical engineer has written to his divisional heads to study and provide suggestions to be sent to the RB on improving alertness and cognitive skills of loco pilots.

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