The N.F. Railway has been accused of serious breach of safety of the passengers in the region. If the N.F. Railway Mazdoor Union is to be believed, trains from Dibrugarh station are leaving without proper examination and repair.The number of trains has been increasing from Dibrugarh Railway Station in Banipur but the station lacks required infrastructure, spare parts and adequate manpower for maintenance, repair and examination. Given the number of trains running from and arriving at the station, there is a requirement of another 500 personnel in various departments to carry out proper examination of trains, according to the union.

The central vice president of N.F. Railway Mazdoor Union, Sanjib Bhattacharyya told that the passenger safety is in danger due to improper examination and repair of trains due to lack of adequate manpower, non-availability of adequate spare parts and for not providing the prescribed coach examination time.

“Our union is not against having more and more trains from the station. We are demanding that additional manpower be made available with every increasing train and the time prescribed for examination of each coach be allotted. We are also demanding that spare parts be made available at the workshop,” said Sanjib Bhattacharyya.

It may be noted that over 30 trains originate and terminate from and at Dibrugarh. However, the Dibrugarh station lacks enough stabling (shunting) line to cope up with the increasing number of trains. It also lacks enough washing pit and sick line.

The union members are of the opinion that authorities must either stop introduction of more new trains or stop taking over primary maintenance of any more train without arranging additional manpower, spare parts and other infrastructure. “The existing staff is already overburdened and any further stress could be dangerous. The existing staff must not be harassed for the fault of the Railways to recruit additional manpower,” said Paresh Hazarika, Dibrugarh branch secretary of the N.F. Railway Mazdoor Union.

The union, which has launched 72-hour hunger strike at the workshop campus of Dibrugarh Station in Banipur in support of their various demands, has also asked the Railway authorities to stop outsourcing and privatization of regular nature of jobs.