Lok Sabha Question No. 1802 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-13
Subject: Gangmen with Modern Gadgets
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: BALASUBRAMANIAM SENGUTTUVAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1802 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.02.2019

## GANGMEN WITH MODERN GADGETS

1802.  SHRI B. SENGUTTUVAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  zone-wise  number  of  gangmen  totally  employed  by  the Railways;
- (b) whether  of  late  the  incidence  of  railway  gangmen  getting  run over by the trains is on the increase and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Railways would provide the zone-wise statistics of railway gangmen killed by running trains in the last five years and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  there  is  any  proposal  pending  with  the  Railways  to re-designate the gangmen as railway track maintainers and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether  there  is  any  proposal  to  equip  the  gangmen  with  a walkie-talkie  like  instrument  called  Raksha  to  warn  them  about  the oncoming trains so that they stand clear of the railway tracks and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (e):   A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1802 BY SHRI B. SENGUTTUVAN TO BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  13.02.2019  REGARDING  GANGMEN WITH MODERN GADGETS

(a) & (d):  Presently there is no category of 'Gangmen'. The erstwhile Gangmen category have already been re-designated in the year 2012 and included in Unified cadre named as 'Track Maintainer'. The Zonewise details of Track Maintainers (all Grades) employed by Railways is as under:

| Zonal Railway      |   Employed Track Maintainers |
|--------------------|------------------------------|
| Central            |                        15953 |
| East Coast         |                         8214 |
| East Central       |                        16001 |
| Eastern            |                        14216 |
| Metro              |                           50 |
| North Central      |                        11925 |
| North Eastern      |                         8552 |
| Northeast Frontier |                        14531 |
| Northern           |                        22102 |

| Zonal Railway      |   Employed Track Maintainers |
|--------------------|------------------------------|
| North Western      |                         8839 |
| South Central      |                        16528 |
| South East Central |                         9304 |
| South Eastern      |                        13915 |
| Southern           |                        13956 |
| South Western      |                         7173 |
| West Central       |                        11286 |
| Western            |                        17201 |
| Total              |                       209746 |

(b): No,  Madam.  The  incidence  of  Track  Maintainers  (Erstwhile Gangmen) getting run over by the trains is not on the increase.

(c): The  Zone-wise  details  of  run-over  cases  of  Track  Maintainers (Erstwhile Gangmen) in the last five years is furnished below :

| ZONAL RAILWAY              |   2013- 14 |   2014- 15 |   2015- 16 |   2016- 17 |   2017 -18 |
|----------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
| CENTRAL RAILWAY            |         28 |         13 |         11 |         10 |         10 |
| EASTERN RAILWAY            |         11 |          8 |          5 |          7 |          5 |
| EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY       |         13 |          8 |         18 |          7 |         12 |
| EAST COAST RAILWAY         |          4 |         10 |          3 |          0 |          1 |
| NORTHERN RAILWAY           |         26 |         16 |         13 |          7 |          6 |
| NORTH CENTRAL RAILWAY      |         25 |         18 |         13 |          4 |         13 |
| NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY      |          7 |          4 |          8 |          1 |          4 |
| NORTHEAST FRONTIER RAILWAY |         14 |          9 |          3 |          4 |          7 |
| NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY      |         14 |          6 |          2 |          6 |          5 |
| SOUTHERN RAILWAY           |          5 |          2 |          8 |          3 |          7 |
| SOUTH CENTRAL RAILWAY      |         12 |          9 |          8 |          6 |          5 |
| SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY      |          8 |          3 |          7 |          6 |          1 |
| SOUTH EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY |          4 |          3 |          3 |          3 |          7 |
| SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY      |          2 |          0 |          1 |          1 |          3 |
| WESTERN RAILWAY            |         13 |          9 |          4 |         13 |         11 |
| WEST CENTRAL RAILWAY       |         10 |          9 |          6 |          8 |          6 |
| METRO RAILWAY              |          0 |          0 |          0 |          0 |          0 |
| Total                      |        196 |        127 |        113 |         86 |        103 |

(e): Yes, Madam. There is a proposal to equip the Track Maintainers (Erstwhile Gangmen) with a walkie-talkie instrument (Rakshak type) to warn them about the approaching trains.

This  instrument  is  a  VHF  based  Approaching  Train  Warning  System. Trials of this instrument (Rakshak type) have been undertaken in one section each of five Zonal Railways. After successful trials over four Zonal  Railways,  a  work  at  a  total  cost  of ₹ 91.61  Cr  has  been sanctioned  during  2018-19  and  instructions  have  been  issued  to implement above system on Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals of Indian Railways spread over 12 Zonal Railways.

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