Loco Pilots Hold Protests Across Southern Railway, Demand Filling of Vacancies and Faster Transfers

Thiruvananthapuram: Loco pilots affiliated with their workers' organisation staged protests across depots under Southern Railway on Monday, demanding that vacancies be filled immediately through Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) appointments as well as inter-divisional and inter-zonal transfers.

The organisation alleged that a shortage of loco running staff was affecting railway operations and employee welfare, and urged the Southern Railway administration to expedite recruitment and transfer processes.

According to the organisation, direct recruitment of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs) through the RRB resumed only in 2024 after the previous recruitment in 2018. It said that 463 candidates had recently joined various divisions of Southern Railway after completing the RRB 1/24 recruitment process, including examinations, medical tests and training.

The organisation demanded that the remaining 263 candidates from the rank list prepared for 726 notified vacancies under RRB 1/24 also be sent for training and appointed to fill the remaining posts. It added that recruitment examinations for 510 vacancies notified under RRB 1/25 were yet to be conducted and that Southern Railway had already reported another 250 vacancies for 2026.

The workers' body criticised the pace of the RRB recruitment process, alleging that lakhs of job aspirants were waiting for appointments while it takes nearly two years to complete examinations and publish rank lists, followed by about a year of training.

It claimed that Southern Railway currently has around 4,450 loco running staff against a sanctioned strength of 5,850, leaving about 1,440 vacancies. While 463 recruits have joined recently, the organisation said 977 vacancies still remain to be filled.

The organisation also demanded that railway authorities adhere to existing norms providing for 65 per cent of vacancies to be filled through inter-divisional and inter-zonal transfers based on applications from employees. Authorities have been accused of facilitating corruption in the employee transfer process by overlooking applications submitted by employees who have been waiting for years to be transferred to Keralam or their home states.

The allegation follows instances where junior employees were granted transfers ahead of senior applicants, despite the latter having waited for years.

The protesters further alleged that staff shortages had resulted in denial of leave and weekly rest, excessive workload, and delays in mandatory training for operating different categories of trains, including passenger, express, MEMU and Vande Bharat services. They also claimed that periodic medical examinations, refresher training and promotion-related training were being postponed, which they said could adversely affect railway safety and increase stress among loco pilots.

The organisation urged the Southern Railway administration to immediately fill vacancies through inter-divisional and inter-zonal transfers in addition to ongoing recruitment.

Protests were held at Ernakulam, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Shoranur, Erode and Chennai, among other locations. The demonstrations at Ernakulam, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram were inaugurated by branch president C. Satheesh, divisional secretary Gagarin and working president V.I. Rajesh, respectively.