The Southern Railway has planned to introduce a single crew on end-to-end basis for the high-speed Vande Bharat, Tejas and Shatabdi Express trains triggering fears among a section of loco pilots that the move could affect safety due to long working hours without any break.
Acting on the instructions of the General Manager, the train operating officials on Wednesday issued a circular proposing a single crew on end-to-end basis for Train No. 20665/20666 Chennai Egmore-Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express, Train No. 20643/20644 Chennai Central-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express, Train No. 22671/22672 Chennai Egmore-Madurai MS-MDU Express and Train No. 12243/12244 Chennai Central-Coimbatore Shatabdi Express, railway sources said.
This would mean loco pilots boarding at the originating point will operate the train till its destination without a break making it difficult for them to attend nature’s call and have food.
