RailEnquiry

Perhaps no group of employees in the country has used the power of a united front better than the 427 motormen of Western Railway united in the Western Railway Motormen’s Association (WRMA).

Their strikes have been quick (the one on Friday was arranged in under 30 minutes), effective (the traffic in the western side was consequently a mess) and successful (WR’s bureaucracy have not been able to withstand more than five hours of their strikes).

However, officials believe it might all be set to change. On Monday, Assembly Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil asked the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to write to the railway minister to appraise the latter of the repeated strikes. In fact, the strike on Friday was withdrawn moments after WR General Manager Mahesh Kumar met Chavan at the Vidhan Bhavan.

Kumar told Mumbai Mirror, “The State Government and the railways are working together to ensure something like this does not happen again,” said he added, refusing to elaborate on the plans.

According to a section of WR officials, a tough stand by the state could help them win what so far has been a lost case. The reason, they say, is that the railway ministry has not pitched in to rein in motormen as much as WR’s bureaucracy would have liked.

“It is tough to take on the WRMA thanks to the unity of its members. There is no dissension in their ranks. Every single WRMA member who has been censured for mistakes has seen major penalties against them revoked by the management,” said an official.

In fact three motormen who resisted the WRMA have their own horror stories to tell. Taunting posters pasted on their driving cabins call them gaddars (traitors) and they are shunned in the motorman’s lobby on the mezzanine floor of Churchgate station.

One of them, Zahoor Khan, allegedly whipped out a revolver one day when the harassment got too much. He is currently facing a court case for this. Another motorman, Lachchu Singh, took voluntary retirement from service and bid good-bye to train piloting on April 10 this year.

Speaking to Mirror, Khan said, “Driving trains is my work and I do that. Beyond that I don’t want to comment.”

For officials, the push they need from the railway ministry to implement an order WR passed on October 11 last year - to take away the special status WR motormen currently enjoy over their counterparts nationwide - has not been forthcoming.

The one-line path-breaking order says: "It is advised that the competent authority has decided that henceforth there will be no direct recruitment in the category of motormen."

The impact, however, will be huge. What it means is that the direct recruitment of motormen as a cadre - started as an emergency measure in the 1980s and since then practiced only by WR - which ensures that WR’s motormen join and retire as motormen, would cease to exist from the next round of recruitments.

What this means is that like their Central Railway counterparts, a WR driver will join as an assistant loco pilot; get promoted to handle freight trains; and then go on to running suburban locals. Those who do well as motormen will get promoted to Mail/Express drivers. A lucky few could go all the way and become Rajdhani, Shatabdi drivers, the highest and best-paid category of train drivers in the city.