Title - Trains delayed due to railway employees’ stir

The incoming and outgoing trains from the Central Railway Station here were delayed for nearly three hours on Wednesday morning due to the work-to-rule agitation by the railway employees.The employees, under the Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU), started the agitation from 7.30 a m demanding to reinstate the coach supporting system while an engine is attached to a rake.Following the intervention of higher officials of the Railway, the strike was called off at 10.40 a m.The commuters were affected due to the delay of trains. After the Chennai Super Fast arrived at the station around 7.30 a m, the removal of rakes from the platform was at a slow pace.Due to this, several trains scheduled to arrive in Thiruvananthapuram, stopped at various railway stations. The trains which had to leave from here were also delayed for nearly three hours.The office-goers and students were the worst- affected. Most of them were not able to reach their destinations on time.Some of them alighted at the nearby stations and took other modes of transportation when the delay prolonged.SRMU assistant general secretary C S Prasanna Kumar said that while attaching an engine to a rake, it has to be supported by the coach. This enables the employees to attach the heavy coupling much easier.Now the railways have decided to remove the coaches which makes the attachment more difficult.

It is not easy for an employee to stand between the rake and the engine to attach the coupling.

There were several instances in which employees were injured while joining the engines to the coaches.

A discussion was held with Senior Divisional Manager (Operations) Ravindranathan and it was ensured that the earlier system would be reinstated.