Interview of Shri Alok Chandra Prakash, General Secretary, Indian Railways Signal and Telecom Maintainers’ Union (IRSTMU) by Dr. A. Mathew, Convenor, All India Forum Against Privatisation
IRSTMU strongly opposes privatization of and contractualisation in Indian Railways.
Shri Prakash thanked AIFAP for taking the initiative to hold a national online meeting on July 20th 2025 against the Railway Board’s Circular of May 6th 2025 which authorised the General Managers of 4 zones of Indian Railways to appoint signal and telecommunication staffs on a contract basis. He also congratulated Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) for mobilising 8 Railway Federations, Associations and Unions to sign a joint memorandum to the Railway Board against contractualization.
Dr. A. Mathew: First of all, I would like to thank IRSTMU for participation in the All India Conference on Privatisation in Electricity and other sectors, held at New Delhi on 15th April 2025, organised by All India Forum Against Privatisation (AIFAP).
Alok Chandra Prakash: I was to participate in this important conference myself. But due to last minute alterations in my program, I was unable to attend and I deputed my Divisional Secretary from NR (Northern Railway).
I would also like to thank AIFAP for taking the initiative to hold a national online meeting on July 20th 2025 against the Railway Board’s Circular of May 6th 2025 which authorised the General Managers of 4 zones of Indian Railways to appoint signal and telecommunication staffs on a contract basis for a period of two years. This online meeting brought together 7 Railway Federations, Associations and Unions to oppose the circular of the Railway Board and demand filling of all the vacancies in the safety category of the Indian Railways.
I would also like to congratulate Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) for mobilising 8 Railway Federations, Associations and Unions to sign a joint memorandum to the Railway Board in this regard.
Dr. A. Mathew: What are the specific problems faced by Signal and Telecom Maintainers of Indian Railways and what are the demands raised by the IRSTMU to solve these problems?
Alok Chandra Prakash: In ensuring safe running of trains Signalling & Telecommunication (S&T) workers play a crucial role. They are responsible for installing, maintaining, and repairing faults in the signalling system. Despite the crucial role played by the S&T department, workers of this department continue to work in risky and highly exploitative conditions.
Unlimited hours of work is a major problem. Though over the years, the number of coaches and trains as well as their speeds and frequencies have been increasing, the Railway authorities are hell bent on surrendering posts as well as not recruiting staff to fill up the vacancies.
S&T workers undertake critical and exhausting work during their duty hours. Though according to the IR’s Hours of Work and Period of Rest (HOER) Rules of 2005 the S & T workers are supposed to have 8 hour shifts; this does not happen in practice.
Although the Railways are in operation 24/7, there is no shift duty among S&T workers. Thus, S&T workers are expected to attend to issues and failures at all hours of the day or night. Whenever a signalling failure occurs during their time off, these workers are immediately called back on duty—even in the middle of the night. If we do not answer calls to attend to such failures, we are threatened with charge-sheets, warning letters, and suspensions, or are considered absent from duty the following day.
In contravention of the HOER rules of 2005, night duty failure gangs who can attend to failures occurring during nights have not been established.
The Railway Board had issued a letter in 2019 (OM No. PC-VII/2019/R-O/1 dated 27.12.2019), stating that the formation of night duty failure gangs necessitates the creation of new posts, and that the General Manager and DRM will have the power to create these posts. However, in numerous zones, this has not been done.
Moreover, S&T workers in some divisions are forced to take permission before leaving headquarters even on their rest days! We are not able to take leave even to attend funerals of their loved ones.
Dr. A. Mathew: How safe are the working conditions of S&T employees?
Risky conditions of work are leading to avoidable deaths and injuries. The Railway Board has not been providing safety shoes, raincoats, winter jackets, luminous vests, etc. in a timely manner, violating its own rules. These are essential for the safety of S&T workers and can save lives. Moreover, adequate training is not being provided for the maintenance and repair of new equipment.
S&T workers are often sent out for maintenance, repair work or patrolling alone owing to a shortage of staff. This puts these workers at high risk. Working alone under stressful conditions while using heavy equipment can result in workers missing signs of an incoming train. This has resulted in multiple run-over incidents over the years. Different railway unions in different zones have raised the demand for the filling up of vacancies in S&T departments across the country so that workers can be sent out to work in pairs or groups. These demands remain unfulfilled to a large extent.
Every few days, there is news of S&T employees being run over while on duty. Earlier this year, six S&T employees across the country were run over in just 16 days.
The task of painting the correct signs and symbols is critical to safety, yet posts such as those of painters are outsourced. This is another example of how outsourcing, contractualization and outright privatization of different departments in the Railways directly affect the safety of workers and passengers alike.
The current strength of Electrical Signal Maintainer (ESMs) is 45,000. The ESMs demand that this should be increased to a minimum of 1,50,000 if the Railways will provide additional night failure gangs, heavy repair gang, track machine S&T staff, Kavach, conversion of absolute block section to automatic section and accident relief trains as per yardstick of Railway Board of 2022.
Dr. A. Mathew: The Railway Board has issued a circular to employ contract workers in S&T Department. What are your views about it?
Instead of recruiting the required skilled youth on a permanent basis to fill the huge number of vacancies in the S&T department, which is more than 1,00,000 posts, the Railway Board issued a circular on May 6th 2025 which authorised the General Managers of 4 zones of Indian Railways to appoint signal and telecommunications staff on a contract basis for a period of two years.
The S&T department is a critical safety department of the Indian Railways with complex interlock mechanisms and advanced electronic systems. That is why employment of Supervisors/ Field Engineers and Technicians on contract basis in this department is highly hazardous and completely unsafe for the train movements as well as for the passengers as it can cause serious accidents.
The complex and advanced interlocking of Signal and Telecom departments needs high and intensive level of training of one to one and half years at various S&T Training Centres (STTCs) and Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunication (IRISET). Hence employment on a contract basis for work in the S&T Department should not be allowed.
I once again congratulate AIFAP and KEC for taking the initiative to mobilise so many railway federations, associations and unions to oppose this circular and to demand the filling of the vacancies in the S&T Department as well as all the safety categories of the Indian Railways.
Dr. A. Mathew: Ever since the policy of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG) was launched in 1991, successive governments at the centre have taken steps to privatise public sector industries, whether it is Railways, Electricity, Banks, Insurance, Defence, Port and Docks, Air India, BSNL, Steel, Oil and Gas etc. It is to oppose these that AIFAP was formed in 2021. Our Conference in New Delhi on April 15, 2025 was an important step in bringing various Federations/Associations of these sectors together on one platform.
What do you feel needs to be done to oppose these policies?
Alok Chandra Prakash: IRSTMU strongly opposes privatization and contractualisation of public sector enterprises, including Railways. That is the reason we participated in the AIFAP conference on April 15th in New Delhi. We have always supported the initiatives of AIFAP in this regard. In the Railways it is necessary to build a united movement of all the federations, associations and unions to oppose the attempts of the government to privatise, contractualise and corporatize the Railways. I congratulate AIFAP and KEC for your initiatives in this regard.
Dr. A. Mathew : Thank You, Mr. Alok Chandra Prakash for your views.