NEW DELHI, SEP 29 (PTI): The Railway Board has warned all its zones not to deploy loco pilots on a train before their proper route learning, after a passenger train overshot a red signal at Sitarampur station in Asansol Division of Eastern Railway on July 29, 2026.
During the probe, it came to light that the train’s crew did not have proper route learning.
As per the railway norms, before being deployed on a route, a train’s crew should undertake adequate route learning by travelling with the regular crew on any train on that route. However, there have been many cases where the running crew with insufficient route learning was deployed, leading to them overshooting signals and risking passengers’ lives.
“Booking of crew with due route learning is important. Strict action needs to be taken for this violation,” the Railway Board said in a written communication dated August 24, 2026, to all the railway zones.
The Board said the decision was taken after “SPAD (Signal Passing At Danger or red signal overshoot) of a passenger train at Sitarampur station over Asansol Division of Eastern Railway on 29.07.2026 was discussed in the Board Meeting held on 05.08.2026”.
The Board said the Crew Management System (CMS) already contains information that can be used to check such violations.
It added that the existing CMS classification should be used to record such violations, and if there is no suitable category, the CMS should be modified to create one.
The Railway Board also issued several instructions to handle the shortage of loco pilots instead of deploying one without route learning.
“Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto Express should not be run by Loco Pilots (Goods) under any circumstances. If necessary, trains should be run by withdrawing regular loco pilots from the scheduled links,” the letter said.
It stated that generally Mail/Express trains and Diverted Mail/Express trains should be run by Loco Pilots (Mail/Pass), but if Loco Pilots (Mail/Passenger) are not available to work these trains, all divisions should prepare a panel of an adequate number of Loco Pilots (Goods) holding A-Grade certificate while properly screening them to deploy on these trains.
According to the Board, if an empanelled Loco Pilot (Goods) is not available, then a Loco Inspector must accompany the loco pilot in the locomotive.
“In case a competent loco pilot as specified above is not available for running a particular type of locomotive, then the power (locomotive) should be changed with another type for which a competent crew is available,” the letter said.
Prior to the Board’s letter, the rail administration had documented several instances in which loco pilots without proper route learning were deployed.
In a recent incident, Seer Govardhanpur Varanasi Express, which runs between Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Chheharta in Punjab, was detained for about 15 minutes at Amritsar station on August 7, 2026, after authorities realised that the train’s running crew had no route learning between Amritsar and Chheharta.
“The authorities provided a Chief Loco Inspector to escort the Loco Pilot over the 7-kilometre route. The on-duty crew controller, who put the crew on the route, was at fault for deputing them without ensuring their route learning,” a railway source said.
Another incident was reported on August 10, 2026, when Kashi Mahakal SF Express, while operating between Varanasi and Indore, was detained at Nishatpura Railway Station in Bhopal when the running crew did not have the route learning up to Sant Hirdaram Nagar station.
“Since the booked running crew of Kashi Mahakal SF Express couldn’t continue working the train over that route, a pilot crew was provided from Nishatpura to take over the train and work onwards,” the source said.
Thursday, October 1, 2026