ईओटीटी सिस्टम लागू कर गार्ड पद को खत्म करने की चल रही तैयारी !

• ऑल इंडिया गार्ड काउंसिल के महामंत्री एसपी सिंह ने खुला पत्र जारी कर चिंताओं से कराया अवगत 
• हर डिवाइस की खरीद पर 15 लाख की लागत से 3000 करोड़ रुपये का खर्च आने का अनुमान 
• डेडिकेटेड फ्रेट कॉरिडोर पर बड़ी राशि खर्च कर सिस्टम निजी एजेंसियों को सौंप दिया गया
• आर्थिक स्थिति गंभीर होने के बावजूद मालगाड़ियों को EOTT से लैस करने के लिए दिख रही बेचैनी 

रेलहंट ब्यूरो, जमशेदपुर

रेलवे बोर्ड ने कुछ चयनित जोन में EOTT (इंड ऑफ ट्रेन टेलीमेंट्री) सिस्टम को परीक्षण के आधार पर शुरू करने का आदेश दे दिया है. इस व्यस्था के अमल में आने के बाद ट्रेन में गार्ड की आवश्यकता नहीं होगा. इसके लिए काफी महंगे उपकरण लोको में लगाये जायेंगे जिनसे ट्रेन का लोको पायलट ही स्टार्ट से इंड तक ट्रेन को नियंत्रित कर सकेगा. कोरोना काल की आर्थिक बदहाली के बावजूद रेलवे मालगाड़ियों को इस तकनीकी से लैस कर चलाने के लिए बेचैन है. हालांकि रेलवे के फेडरेशनों और यूनियनों ने तकनीक पर चलने वाली इस व्यवस्था के कई बिंदुओं पर सवाल उठाया है, बावजूद रेलवे विरोध को नजरअंदाज कर अपनी योजना पर आगे बढ़ रहा है. डेडिकेटेड फ्रेड कॉरिडोर में चलने वाली ट्रेनों में यह व्यवस्था लागू होगी. आशंका जतायी जा रही है कि धीरे-धीरे इसे पूरे रेलवे में लागू कर गार्ड पद को खत्म कर दिया जायेगा.

कॉ़ एसपी सिंह, महामंत्री, एआईजीसी

ऑल इंडिया गार्ड काउंसिल इसे गार्ड कैडर को खत्म करने की साजिश के रूप में देख रहा है. काउंसिल के महामंत्रीकॉमरेड एसपी सिंह ने संगठन से जुड़े तमाम रेलकर्मियों को खुला पत्र जारी कर आगाह किया है कि रेलवे इस सिस्टम के रूप में जो व्यवस्था लागू करने को बेचैन है उसमें 3000 करोड़ तक अनुमानित लगात आयेगी, उपकरणों के विदेश के आयात करने पर यह खर्च डालर में होगा और बड़ी विदेशी मुद्रा खर्च होगी. उन्होंने 2011 में गठित पित्रोदा समिति की सिफारिशों को लागू करने की बेचैनी को लेकर रेलवे की सोच व रेलकर्मियों की चिंताओं को चिह्नित करते हुए तकनीकी बिंदुओं को बारीकी से रखा है जिसमें रेलकर्मियों से सुझाव भी आमंत्रित किये गये है. गार्ड काउंसिल के नेता तापस चटराज के अनुसार अगर ऐसा होता रहा तो वह दिन दूर नहीं है जब पावर कमिश्नर या चीफ कंट्रोलर के आदेशों के साथ आगे बढ़ने की स्थिति में है लोको पायलट क्षोभ और स्वास्थ्य चिंताओं से गुजरेंगे. ऐसे में महिला चालक दल की स्थिति क्या होगी यह नहीं कहा जा सकता. इसके लिए आंदोलन की जरूरत है.

कॉमरेड एसपी सिंह द्वारा सहयोगियों को जारी पत्र की हू-ब-हू प्रति  

Comrades,

The Railway Board has ordered for introduction of EOTT, on trial basis, in some selected Zones. Now, every Zone/Division wanted to protest but they asked for technical specifications. Considerable efforts have been made to furnish the following information. Many other terms and conditions will also be detailed in the days to come.

ANALYSIS

1. The main aim of EOTT is to eliminate the Guards Cadre.

2. Each unit will cost about Rs.15 Lakhs. Railways will have to invest Rs.3000 crores at the minimum to procure these instruments, adequately. Please imagine @Rs.75 per Dollar, how much foreign reserves will get drained because these machines are to be imported from abroad.

ORIGIN

1. Ministry of Railways had constituted an Expert Group for Modernisation of Indian Railways on 21.09.2011. Sam Pitroda was the Chairman of the Committee while many other Economists were members ( Deepak Parekh, M.S.Verma, Rajiv Lal, G.Raghuram, Vinayak Chatterjee and Rajan Jain). On 25.2.2012, the Committee submitted its report and suggested many reforms in the Railways and one among them is EOTT. It was the same Pitroda who killed the Postal and Telegraph Department in the year 1981 by bifurcating into two Viz., Postal and Telegraph. Subsequently the Telegraph department became Telecommunications and now BSNL which is going to be sold out on wholesale price. Thousands of BSNL employees were shunted-out from service.

2. Just before these developments, Dedicated Freight Corridor was proposed during February,2009 with 33 % equity of the Railways,while 67 % from World Bank and Japan International Corporation Agency. At that time, the nation was fooled with a statement that it (DFCLL) is to reduce congestion on main routes but in reality after investing thousands of crores (Railway funds) it was handed over to Private agencies. Now it DFCLL is having its separate organisation including Control office, Staff, its own rules and laws which is approved by the Government of India. It is having its own recruitment cell, employees, HOER, GRs, BWMs and Accident Manuals etc. The Railways permitted it to run without Guard and all the Duties of Guard will be discharged by its Loco Pilots. The Railways also assured it to provide EOTT in all freight trains. Accordingly, Rule 125 of its (DFCLL’s) Accident Manual states “No train without EOTT will be accepted from the Indian Railways” If the Railways are sending without EOTT, the man power charges will be compensated by the Railways. (Now it is your responsibility not to allow the DFCLL staff to occupy your Running Rooms).That is the reason, the Railways are rushing to equip the freight train with EOTT though the Economic situation is grim.

In the year 2016, Suresh Prabhu, the then Minister for Railways proposed to procure EOTTs with Sovereign Wealth fund. ( Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) was created in India in the year 2015 by abrogating National Investment and Infrastructure Fund by the then Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. When the Nation’s funds are drained totally without any planning or hasty decisions, the SWF will be used to stabilise the Economic Crisis. Lack of transparency led to mismanagement of funds as is in the case of PM CARES fund)

3. At last, on 9th May 2017, the Railway MInistry floated global tenders for 1000 EOTT machines for Rs. 100 Crore (@ 10 lakhs per unit). The Parliamentary Standing Committee reprimined the Railway Ministry for floating Global tenders without designing specifications for the EoTT.

4. In the year 2018, the Railway Board directed the RDSO to specify the specifications for EOTT to avoid legal problems and get saved from CCRS.

5. During December 2018, the RDSO prepared its specifications.

6. The RDSO has taken care to ensure the Safety but yet a few loose ends were noticed which will be briefed to you in due course,

7. The entire process of EOTT was organised right from preparation of Specifications, designing, tenders and modalities of its functioning was done by the Electrical Department at RB. At no stage either Member/Traffic or Safety Organisation were involved. In fact the GRS is prepared by these two departments (Traffic & Safety) while COM is an Authorised Officer to issue Subsidiary Rules. But neither they were invited nor sought their opinion. While discussing with Companies to finalise the specifications and tenders, only the officers from the Electrical Department took part (we are in possession of its minutes). It is most unfortunate the Operating & Safety Departments shut their eyes, ears and mouth. Because of their silence in many policy matters, now they are being shunted-out due to Restructuring of the Railway Board. No officer from Civil Services. The Railway Board which was constituted in the year 1905 is going to be filled by (bureaucratic posts) from the market . Member/Staff & Member/Traffic posts will be eliminated while the present Chairman will be CEO and it will have just 5 Departmental Members while all others will be hired with the benefits of a Union Cabinet Secretary. There are many more subjects which require detailed analysis but you don’t have patience to read.

Now let us know the proposed functional requirements and specifications.

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATIONS

1. EOTT : End of Train Telemetry System. It consists of two units. One unit called HOT (Head on Train). It will be fitted in Locomotive. EOT( End of Train Unit) will be fitted to the last vehicle. This EOT will have a Sense of Brake unit (SBU), Radio Transmitter, Receiver, Battery, Air turbine for Battery charging, GPS etc).

2. The existing specifications are not final. Based on the experience gained, final specifications will be issued.

3. The supplier should depute his Engineer to CLW/Sheds/Workshops for installation of the equipment

4. Representatives from RDSO should be available for field trials.

5. The firm should arrange training for LPs, ALPs, Loco Foremans, SMs, Controllers etc. Training module will have the approval of the Railways.

6. Data Charges, Server Maintenance charges, spares, man-power required to keep the equipment operational at all times will be paid to the Contractor in addition to the unit price of 10 to 15 lakhs.

7. MAIN FUNCTIONS OF EoTT

(a) To provide display of BP pressure of the last vehicle of the train to LP in the cab
(b) To apply emergency brakes from the last vehicle of the train remotely by LP from the cab
(c) To Check and detect train integrity. Train parting shall also be identified by the EoTT
(d) To indicate the location of EOT device to other trains which are equipped with EoTT in case of emergency on command by LP. (it is possible when other trains are also equipped with EoTT only. If the other train is not equipped with EoTT major disaster is imminent when derailed/capsized or infringes the adjacent line etc…..it is our observation)
(e) To indicate passage of complete train over a particular location when desired by LP like entering girder bridges, curves, etc.
(f) To indicate the GPS location of EoT & HoT over the map.
(g) Last vehicle should be provided with an illuminated marker.
(h) EoTT shall have a provision of application of emergency Brake through EoT Device when Driver desires so
(i) EoTT should alert the LP when the BP dropped or Battery power become low or failure
(j) LP has to maintain/record different readings and log-book.
(k) LP should programme the length of the train, and other details in the monitor.
(l) Please remember the rear Emergency valve is only a back-up device but not to check continuity by manual operation.
(m) In certain situations it may be necessary to repeat the signal between HoT and EoT. On train Repeater or Track side Fixed Repeaters (we presume thick and foggy weather, forest and ghat locations where satellite communications could not reach)
(n) The supplier of the equipment should have a server in India for security reasons.
(o) Web page layout should be approved by the RDSO
(q) Railways decided to set-up its own server ( Thus saving the Contractor)
(r) It will work for 200 wagons or 2.5 km length
(s) Should withstand the speed of 120 kmph
(t) Maximum weight of the EoT ( fixed on last vehicle will be 12.5 kgs)
(u) It should be fitted with adequate vandalism – proofing, theft proof etc
(v) When Locomotive is to be detached from a working train, the EoT should be carried in Loco.
(w) It (E0T) should ensure fouling clear/Caution order clearance message will be passed to HoT

8.TECHNICAL DETAILS

(a) Software must be installed on an Ethernet port (Local Area Network). It is not clear whether it works on Fiber optic cable or Twisted pair cable. Whether Gigabit is opted or Mbps for speedy access.
(b) It is used on 406-408 MHz Band.( According to the WHO, the human body can absorb 30-300 MHz. Now exposure to 406 -408 Mhz may have health concerns of LP & ALP, particularly women crew)
(c) It works on Radio waves. Radio waves (Electro-magnetic spectrum) disadvantages are heat up very fast, consumes more energy. The radiation emitted from the Electro-magnetic spectrum may cause cancer in the long run. Again the life of the Crew is at stake.
(d) Radio waves can’t pass through Electrical Conductors. Aluminium Foil can block the radio waves, Our tracks are filled with Aluminium food wrappers and due to velocity of wind, the Al foil may stuck to any device, blocking the Radio waves. The waves may not pass through.
(e) Radio antennae will be erected to loco
(f) A combo antenna for GPS & GSM is suggested.
(g) Care has been taken to withstand Moisture, dust, storms, shocks and vibrations.
(h) It (EoT) should be placed on the rearmost coupler of the train
(i) EoT and HoT will run on integrated sealed batteries. Continuous charging should be ensured. Normal battery life is said to be 36 hours)
(j) Many technical precautions are required.
Other technical specifications are not brified here to avoid confusion.

9. The trail tests will not be conducted at remote locations. The Companies have been given free-hand to identify the Loco Sheds and Yards, on their own, where these units can be fixed. Another order has been issued to Divisional authorities to cooperate the firms.

**

Comrades, many other prescribed technical and non-technical specifications should be implemented in its true spirit. Kindly let us know what are the set-backs that we can draw the attention of the CCRS. We are aware that many Engineering Graduates are working as Goods Guards. If any one from “Communications” stream they are requested to send their study report to my personal number.. We are having a 50 page detailed summary. Now the million Dollar question is how long these specifications will be adhered. The day is not far away to detect to proceed as is in the condition just with Power Controller or Chief Controller orders when deficiencies were noticed. Loco Pilots will undergo rigorous trepidation and health concerns, particularly women crew. Many safety related questions are unanswered like protection on multiple lines, Who will be the incharge when Head on Collision or Rear-on Collision, When LP incapacited, who will issue T/609 in times of need and many more. Be ready for the United struggle along with AILRSA. Discussions have already taken place between both the General Secretaries.

Please read carefully and understand it. Those who have a clear idea are requested to counsel other Guards. If you feel appropriate, take a print-out duly altering mistakes, if any. Detailed protest letter is being sent to all concerned within a couple of days.

Happy Independence Day
S.P.SINGH
GENERAL SECRETARY
15/08/2020