IndiGo crisis: A reminder that Railways must carefully reassess duty hours

The disruption in IndiGo’s schedule after the enforcement of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms has revived a long-standing but unresolved concern in Indian Railways of how fatigue among loco pilots is managed, and what this means for safety on an increasingly busy network. Loco pilots continue to operate under the far looser “Hours of Work and Period of Rest” (HOER) framework, which permits an average of 52 working hours a week. The All India Loco Running Staff Association’s demand is to cap duty at six hours for passenger trains and eight hours for goods trains, along with 16 hours of rest after every trip, weekly rest in addition to daily rest, and the use of fatigue-risk modelling in crew scheduling. These proposals must be carefully studied. They broadly reflect the global best practices, where duty and rest rules are based on scientific evidence of how fatigue affects human performance.

 

The problem is being compounded by staff shortages. As of March 1, 2024, nearly 15 per cent of train-driver posts were vacant across the network. In Southern Railway, shortages have reportedly delayed the introduction of additional services despite strong passenger demand. While the railways has announced recruitment for more than 120,000 vacancies, the process is slow, and the benefits will be felt only over time. Until then, the existing staff are being stretched thinner. The safety data further underlines why this matters. In 2024-25, there were 31 consequential train accidents, including over 20 derailments. Fatigue may not be the sole cause in most cases, but it is a recognised risk factor in safety-critical operations. Ignoring it increases the chances that small errors cause serious incidents. Notably, in the past decade, the number of women loco pilots has increased substantially, which makes predictable duty schedules, adequate rest, and basic facilities even more important if the railways is to retain talent and ensure safe operations. Further, the principle should not remain limited to loco pilots. Internationally, rail systems have moved decisively in this direction. The European Union enforces strict duty-rest norms, the United States mandates minimum off-duty hours under its “Hours of Service” law, and advanced networks rely on formal fatigue-management systems backed by data and technology.

 

However, Indian Railways’ financial position complicates matters. An operating ratio estimated at 98.43 per cent in 2025-26, along with heavy reliance on central support to finance nearly 95 per cent of capital expenditure, leaves the organisation with limited financial room for manpower expansion. These constraints are likely to intensify with the implementation of the 8th Pay Commission, which will further raise the staff costs. Closing this gap will require more than incremental adjustment. Institutional priorities must explicitly treat crew training and fatigue monitoring as core safety investment, reinforced by technology-driven crew scheduling, a real-time monitoring of duty hours, a transparent disclosure of vacancies, and faster recruitment and training pipelines. As traffic grows and networks become denser, safety margins will depend increasingly on human limits.