Rahul meets railways loco pilots, drivers complain of 'inadequate' rest

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday met a group of Indian Railways loco pilots, who complained of "inadequate rest due to understaffing".

Gandhi met around 50 loco pilots from all over India at the New Delhi railway station in the afternoon and they explained to him their issues, party sources said.

Chiefly, the loco pilots complained of inadequate rest, they said.

The loco pilots drive trains over long distances, far from home, and are often pressed into duty without adequate breaks, the sources said.

This causes great stress and lapses in concentration which is a major cause of accidents, they added.

This has been acknowledged by the Indian Railways in multiple reports, including the recent probe in the accident in Vishakapatnam, they further said.

The loco pilots demand a weekly rest of 46 hours, which means a train driver returning home on Friday afternoon will return to duty no later than Sunday morning.

The Railways Act 1989 and other rules already