Railway gate keeper at railway station near Tiruvannamalai suspended for sloppy work

A railway level crossing (LC) gate keeper between Tiruvannamalai and Tirukoilur (Kallakurichi district) railway stations at Thandarai village in Tiruvannamalai was suspended by Southern Railway on Wednesday for sloppy work during duty hours.

Railway officials said that the suspension order was issued by Southern Railway based on a surprise inspection led by the Senior Divisional Engineer (North) of Southern Railway. The northern section of the Southern Railway oversees the functioning of railway stations, including Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu on the Trichy railway division. 

Railway officials said that the suspended gatekeeper has been identified as K. Ramu at Thandarai village. The surprise inspection was held between past midnight on July 14 on the Tiruvannamalai - Cuddalore route, which has non-interlocked railway level crossings where the role of the railway gate-keeper remains key for the smooth operation of train services and preventing accidents. 

During the inspection, the railway team found that the gatekeeper was unable to do the specified work. Some of them include book-keeping, including total number of trains crossed, its timing at the said level crossing, Private Number (PN) exchanged between gatekeeper and station manager, failure to check height of the boom (also known as a barrier or gate) is typically set at a height of boom or railway gate above the rail level. As per norms, total height of the boom should be one metre to prevent trespassing especially two-wheelers.

Railway officials said a new gatekeeper has been posted as a replacement for the concerned level crossing. The suspended gatekeeper has been sent for a 15-day training at Trichy-based Multidisciplinary Zonal Training Institute of Southern Railway to guide him on Gate Working Rules manual.

Ramu was the third suspended gatekeeper in the region since a special drive on gatekeepers was initiated in the wake of a school van carrying four students was rammed by a passenger train at a manned gate at Semmankuppam in Cuddalore district on July 8.