Nagpur, Sep 04: The railways will phase out four-wheeler oil tankers which are causing a series of derailments, Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has said. These four-wheelers would be replaced with modern eight-wheelers as part of measures initiated for enhancing safety standards under the corporate safety plan, Kumar told reporters here last night on the sidelines of a railway safety seminar.

The seminar, launched from Mumbai on Tuesday would be held across the country to have a direct interaction between the railway employees and officials right from divisional level to railway board for the first time. The voluntary retirement scheme for locomotive drivers and gangmen above the age of 50 years is being formulated and would be offered to them within two or three weeks. More than 8,000 drivers and 42,000 gangmen falls under the age criteria.

"There would be no compromise on the issue of safety," he said adding they were trying their best to eliminate human failure factor by looking into the needs of running staff, their comforts, welfare of their families to enable them to concentrate while on duty. The railways have drawn up a 10-year corporate safety plan which would require a whopping Rs.31,835 crores

Bureau Report