- vacant posts should be filled with only permanent employees: Alok, General Secretary, IRSTMU
NEW DELHI. The Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, which held in its probe report that the accident of Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express in Chennai Division on October 11, 2024 was a result of sabotage, has cautioned the Railway Ministry against contractual hiring for critical safety work. .
A M Choudhary, the CRS of Southern Circle, said, “Engagement and exposure of contractual staff for the maintenance and operation of critical safety features and systems as well as allowing them to develop skills in these areas must be reviewed as a priority.”
“It must be brought to minimal in short term and null in long term,” Choudhary added.
The Railway Ministry, in its action-taken report, said that as per policy contractual staffs for maintenance are used for noncritical activities along with or under supervision of Railway Staff.
The probe revealed that miscreants forcefully removed the components of the track interlocking system leading to the accident.
Choudhary also observed that the accident “happened not due to automatic/sudden failure of any equipment/assets but due to the forceful alteration in the designed position of LH tongue rails by the miscreant”.
Train number 12578, Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express, collided with the stationary goods train at the Kavaraippettai railway station in the Chennai rail division in Tamil Nadu at around 8:30 pm on October 11, 2024 leading to injuries to nine passengers.
The CRS recommendation regarding non-engagement of contractual staff for crucial safety work has reflected the concerns already raised by the Indian Railways Signal & Telecom Maintainers’ Union (IRSTMU) when the Railway Ministry had issued a circular on May 6, 2025 for hiring signalling and telecom staff on contractual basis as a pilot project for execution of certain non-critical activities.
IRSTMU General Secretary Alok Chandra Prakash had demanded on June 3, 2025 by writing a letter to the Railway Minister that the vacant posts should be filled with only permanent employees and not with contract employees because the S&T department is completely related to the safety and security of railways and passengers.
Prakash said that the CRS recommendation is in the interest of passengers safety.
Navin Kumar, President, IRSTMU expressed his concern: “I am glad that the Railway Ministry announced permanent hiring after our demand but its pilot project for contractual hiring is also going on. I think the CRS has touched a very crucial safety aspect. Playing with the safety of railways and passengers should be stopped immediately and privatization through backdoors should be stopped.”
