Gangmen tasked with spotting garbage thrown on tracks from long-distance trains

MUMBAI: The gangmen maintaining the rail tracks have been tasked with an additional responsibility: to keep an eye on long-distance trains on Western Railway (WR). They have been assigned the job of informing the administration if heaps of garbage are found on the railway tracks, based on which action will be taken against the contractors in charge of ensuring cleanliness inside the trains. This decision was taken after a high-level inspection by the WR GM (general manager) inspection in mid-February on the Virar-Surat section.

The GM inspection is an annual event at which various aspects of train operations, track conditions and signals, among other things, are inspected in detail. This time, apart from routine activity like painting the tracks, the local rail officials from the Mumbai division of WR decided to clean up the entire 200-km-odd Virar-Surat corridor. Sources said that close to 150 kg of garbage was collected from the rail tracks over one month.

“Usually, removing garbage from the tracks is not carried out before an inspection, and this time around, the senior officials did notice the positive change,” said a senior WR official. “However, we found that within a matter of days, fresh garbage was back on the tracks, stuffed into garbage bags that are usually found on long-distance trains. These were strewn at short distances, especially after Surat. This was very disappointing, especially after putting efforts into sprucing up the rail tracks even on mid-sections.”

This is what led the WR authorities to ask the on-ground rail staff to be their eyes and ears. Gangmen usually move around in groups of five to ten, and walk 8-10 km, keeping a check on the condition of tracks, looking for technical engineering faults if any, carrying out basic maintenance of rail lines and ensuring the safety of railway assets. Trackmen and gangmen are positioned at every kilometre on the track.

A WR official said that the gangmen had been asked to observe if heaps of garbage bags were thrown at a regular distance, mark the time when they found them, recall if these garbage bags were present during their previous walk and then inform the station master’s office at the end of the day. “Every time a bag is espied, it has to be referenced with the closest OHE pole number,” he said.

“We have asked the station staff to support the gangmen,” said another official. “They will match the long-distance trains plying around the time when gangmen found the garbage, and then inform their superiors. The authorities will then cross-check with the on-board housekeeping and pantry staff of the long-distance trains that ran around the time noted by the gangmen.”

Sources said that as per process, the contract staff of the pantry car of every long-distance train had to use the compactor at the terminus stations of Bandra and Mumbai Central to dispose of the garbage collected. However, there have been cases where the staff, to save the time required to carry the garbage bags filled with trash, food plates and bottles to the terminus, discard them en route.

The officials said that they had an internal mechanism to verify this, and if found that the contractual staff was responsible for throwing the garbage, the WR authorities would levy fines and take the necessary action against the contractors.

“We are serious about cleanliness and we want to bring in some accountability in keeping our rail tracks clean,” said Vineet Abhishek, Chief PRO, Western Railway. “Trackmen and gangmen will provide us with this information on the probable trains from which garbage bags are disposed of on railway tracks.”