Loco pilots push for work-hour cap, urge railways to learn from IndiGo crisis

Indian Railways

Pointing to the government's mandate of work-hour cap for airline pilots in light of the crisis at India's largest airline IndiGo, loco pilots of the Indian Railways are now seeking work-hour cap to prevent fatigue and avert potential railway accidents.

The loco pilots who have been on a warpath against the delay in filling up the loco pilot vacancies in the railway along with raising demands of better labour reforms including rational duty hours and scientific roster planning, asked the railways to draw a lesson from the recent IndiGo crisis, according to a report by The Hindu.

In a statement, the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) criticised the Centre for showing leniency toward private airlines while taking a tougher approach with government employees. The union said that worker agitations in public-sector units are routinely met with disciplinary action, chargesheets, or suppression under various “black rules," often justified in the name of public convenience or essential services.

“But when large private corporations resist safety regulations, the government kneels before their diktats, even compromising system safety," AILRSA alleged in a strongly-worder statement, according to a report by News18.

AILRSA said the issues in aviation reflect long-standing concerns of loco pilots, who have for decades sought scientifically designed duty schedules. The union noted that fatigue-management norms worldwide are based on extensive research and past safety incidents.

It cited strict duty and rest limits in the EU, mandatory off-duty periods under America’s Hours of Service Act, and the use of advanced biomathematical models in Australia and Canada.

The association urged the Railways to adopt an FRMS-based work-hour system with a six-hour daily duty limit, predictable rest schedules, 16 hours of rest after each shift, and weekly rest in addition to daily rest.

IndiGo crisis

The ongoing aviation crisis stems from IndiGo’s failure to comply with mandated pilot rest rules, including the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) and the Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) introduced in November. The lapse led to major disruptions across the domestic aviation sector.

Over the last week, IndiGo saw cancellation of thousands of flights across the country amid pilot shortage, leading to passengers getting stranded and the government imposing a refund policy to mitigate the crisis.