BENGALURU: Just before the departure of every train, you might have noticed a couple of railway staffers lugging a nearly 30-kilogram iron trunk to the guard cabin of the train. These ‘Box Boys’, as they are called, will shortly become redundant in the Bengaluru Railway Division as guards will be given portable trolley bags to store their work tools.
Continuing with its efforts to introduce digitisation for its workforce, the Bengaluru Railway Division will shortly equip every guard with these bags which will also contain a tablet.
No guard can begin his work without this box boarded inside the Guard Van is it contains a powerful torch, flags, a detonator which makes a loud sound and is aimed at alerting the loco-pilot of any problem on the tracks and a huge logbook to maintain an exact record of arrival and departure of timings among other things. The proposed light-weight bag can be carried by the guard, thereby saving him the time spent in waiting for it to be delivered.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Railway Division, Ashok Kumar Varma said, “The move will ensure smooth working for a guard by making his work totally paperless. The tablet will be equipped with a SIM. The guard can log in and log out of work in future using the tablet. He can also update train timings on it quite easily.”
The Bengaluru Railway Division has a total of 286 guards. With Yeshwanthpur and City railway station being the main terminating stations now, Box Boys are stationed there 24x7 while there is a guard depot at Whitefield too.
The trolley bag will contain the tablet-PC which will be preloaded with a PDF copy of the working time table, accident manual and rules book. The bag will also contain a lamp, two red flags and one green one, first-aid box in a plastic pouch, 10 detonators in a tin box with a certificate, two padlocks, carriage keys, guard certificate and complaint book among other items.
Senior Divisional Operations Manager Geeta Mohapatra said, “We plan to start it for guards on Mail and Express trains initially. There is no specific training required for it. Most people know how to use a smartphone and operating this tablet is just as simple.” Secunderabad and Vadodara are among the Railway Divisions which have already introduced it for their guards, she said.
B Naidu, the contractor at the City railway station who has 18 Box Boys working under him says, “I am upset to hear about this modernisation move. The staff working for me all these years along with me will become jobless now.”