The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) has issued an extraordinary warning: loco pilots across India could launch a nationwide strike unless Parliament’s Petition Committee, headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, intervenes to resolve a simmering rest-hours dispute with the Railway Ministry.

At the heart of the crisis is a bitter fight over mandatory rest: union demands include 16 hours of headquarter rest plus 30 hours of weekly rest, totaling 46 hours—rights previously upheld by legal rulings from the Karnataka High Court (2012) and tribunals but allegedly ignored by railway authorities . Currently, Railway officials argue that the 16‑hour rest is being subsumed within the weekly rest a policy the union says effectively limits their weekly rest to just 14 hours .

Despite infrastructure improvements—like installing toilets and air conditioning in over 7,000 locomotives and 558 running rooms—the union says the core issue remains unresolved. Loco pilots describe working continuous stretches of up to 20 hours, frequent night shifts, and growing fatigue—conditions they say violate safety norms and jeopardize passenger lives.

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Political pressure is building too: earlier this year, 17 opposition MPs urged Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to address these stress and safety issues. CPI(M)’s K. Radhakrishnan has also petitioned the Speaker to formally bring the case before Parliament.

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