Chapter-2
The Railway Staff College (RSC), Baroda
This is how this training institution for the officers of the Indian railways and the city were called when I joined the Railway. The training period was from October 1963 to February 1964. When myself in the company of my batchmates of South Eastern Railway arrived at Baroda station from New Delhi by Dehradun express a little past 9 p.m. we were unsure of what would be awaiting us. But we were relieved to find that the railway bus bearing the name of the college was waiting outside. At the college hostel we were greeted by the hostel superintendent (Mr Chawala) who allotted us room (4 beds) and briefly explained to us about the timings of morning tea, the breakfast and start of the classes. The room was cozy and the bed comfortable. We were a batch of 32 probationers from different railway zones. Next day morning we were excited to meet each other specially the topper of the batch. He was S. Suryanarayanan allotted to the Southern railway. He shook hands with us with a smiling face. The breakfast was sumptuous and included items like bread, butter, jam, cornflake, milk and egg. The Principal Sri A.C. Mukherjee welcoming us remarked, “there are only 3 types of weather at Baroda viz bad, very bad and very very bad. I am glad to inform you that you have come at a time when the weather is bad only”. Then he briefly dwelt upon the routine, the course content, the facilities available and physical fitness.
The college campus--It is housed in the elegant Pratap Vilas Palace at Lalbagh purchased by the Railway from the Gaekwads (erstwhile rulers of Baroda), situated in a sprawling campus of 55 acres in a pleasantly pastoral surrounding. The building is noted for its architectural grandeur and features exquisitely carved columns and arches.
Apart from classrooms, library and the Principal’s chamber it also accommodated faculty chambers (in the basement). The Principal’s residence was on the first floor. Other facilities included recreation hall, badminton court, tennis court and swimming pool. A health unit operated in the college campus for routine medical care. Within a couple of days of our arrival our weights were recorded. The purpose was to record it again after completion of the course and ascertain how much we have gained. It was 58 kg and 65 kg respectively in my case. Till this date my weight stands at 65 kg. The nearest railhead is the meter gauge station of Pratapnagar about a km away. But what mattered to us was the broad-gauge station of Baroda Jn situated at a distance of 6 KMs from the college.
The routine--Morning tea was served in the hostel room. Then we had to move out and report at the lawn in a T shirt-half pant outfit for one hour ordeal including physical training and drill conducted by an Inspector of the Railway Protection Force. In another half an hour we got ready for the morning breakfast. From the breakfast table we headed straight away to the classroom. The lavish breakfast made us drowsy and it was difficult to resist dozing. But there was no problem. If caught the professor would say “go and wash your face, we also did like this”. Tea was served in the college lounge itself after a couple of periods. During this interval we also found time to rush to the pigeon-holes provided in the concourse, looking for our letters. Similar tea-break was given during post lunch classes. Evening was free either for warming up with games, relaxing in the recreation hall or exploring the city. At reasonable cost the services of room boy and dhobi were available.
The lectures-The faculty included railway officers in Junior Administrative grade and Senior scale from all the departments. In addition, there were visiting railway officers. We were imparted training in working of all the branches of the Railway e.g., Administration, Operating, Commercial, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Signal Engineering & Telecommunication, Accounts, Personnel and stores. For teaching Indian Railway Act there was a visiting professor from the M.S. University of Baroda. There were visiting lectures also from different railway units like Sri B.B.Dutta, Director (Bridge & floods) from RDSO/Lucknow, Sri Khergamwala from Western railway who lectured on Udaipur-Himmatnagar new line construction and Sri B. Mohanty, who discussed the construction of the rail-cum-road bridge at Mokama. Sri K.C. Sood Member Engineering, Railway Board came one day to address us. The Railway Board is the apex executive body for the administration, technical supervision and direction of the Railways. It is synonymous with the Ministry of Railways in that it exercises all the powers of the Government of India in relation to the railways. The Chairman is ex-officio Principal Secretary and the Board members ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India.
Mechanical Engineering-In steam locos a steel plate is provided between the engine and the tender (the adjacent coal & water carrying wagon) to bridge the gap between the two. In normal position the steel plate lay under the feet of the crew. Hence the word ‘footplate’. Inspection of the track, signalling ,OHE or the behavior of the locomotive & the crew while standing in the cab of a running loco is referred to as ‘footplate inspection’. During such inspections while noting the track irregularities ,we were also supposed to observe the alertness of the driver & the assistant driver in calling & repeating signal aspects. The driver wearing spects were sometimes asked to show its spare set. Bahar line goomty is located at the point where the loco is made over from the loco yard to the traffic yard to work under the command of the operating staff.
Operating- Prof Francis De Costa of operating would leave his lecture at whatever stage it was, the moment the bell rang. He was unhappy that when a 70 wagons goods train arrived a marshalling yard the smart carriage & wagon staff after examination of the load would declare something like 9th, 34th and 57th wagon as sick creating a shunting problem for the operating staff. The role of the officials at the site during a train accident was described at great length. Great emphasis was laid on protecting the track and relief operation.
Private number books are provided to the station staff and also to other categories of staff concerned with safe movement of trains and safety of staff at work. The book contains random numbers not conforming to any sequence or pattern. Hence it is not possible for one staff member to know the next number appearing in the book possessed by the staff at another end, with whom he is interacting. When it comes to confirming any action of one party say ‘platform line clear’ or ‘UP main line blocked for track repair’ or ‘grant of power block for OHE repair’ or ‘permitting unusual movement’ etc. Private numbers are exchanged between the two parties which are noted in their respective books. During accidents these books are seized as they give valuable clues whether a particular action has been performed authorizedly and correctly. Token is a physical object (a sphere or a tablet or a key) generally made of steel, which a train driver must possess before entering the block section ahead in a single line section. The block instruments are so designed that no new token for a block section can be taken out from them until the current one is reinserted into the system at either end. This ensures that at any point of time there is only a train in the block section thus precluding the possibility of collision in a single line section.
The transportation model room was in a separate block. It displayed various types of train operating and signalling systems. We got a feel of practical train operation by running train models under a stimulated hands-on environment. One day we were subjected to a test when we had to act as station masters and demonstrate our acquired knowledge on train operation. Travelling public expect the trains to run on time. Thus, statistics on punctuality assume importance. If a Division/Railway takes over a train say 40 minutes late and hands over the same to the adjacent Division/railway not more than 40 minutes late they use the word ‘train not losing time’ and take it as ‘punctual’ for statistical purposes. Engineering time allowance is necessary to enable the civil engineers to execute track renewal & bridge rehabilitation works. It is specified in the working timetable but in-built in the public timetable. For example, on going through the public timetable one finds that for an up train arriving Mughalsarai from Danapur an unusual running time of around 40 minutes is provided between the earlier station of Kuchman and Mughalsarai. This is because it includes the engineering time allowance of about 25 minutes also allowed for the Danapur-Mughalsarai section. Over a timetable period of say 6 months the locations of the engineering works (changing rails, sleepers & fastenings, ballast screening, bridge repair etc.) are not fixed but keep shifting. A train proceeding from Danapur to Mughalsarai will lose time at all the worksites totalling about 25 minutes, which it will make good in the last lap of its journey. If a train arrives earlier than its publicized time it may be because the full engineering time allowance has not been consumed.
Civil engineering- Prof. Ayangar ,the Senior Civil Engineer (SCE), dwelt on the works and bridge chapters of the ‘Way & Works manual’, specially in the matter of maintenance of assets, land acquisition, passing of materials and recording of measurements. The SCE told that scrap rails are useful materials for making buffers, boundary posts, creep posts, height gauge for limited height underpass, level crossing barrier and lintels. Palisade fencing with its cut resistance and climb resistance is provided at stations to prevent leak of tickets and keep the intruders away. In railways it also follows a different design as released steel tie bars from the sleepers or released boiler tubes of steam engines are used to form panels which are mounted on rail posts. Petty repair books are provided at stations to enable the staff to record their grievances regarding repair to the quarters, water supply problem etc. and they should be gone by the engineers during routine inspection. Benchmarks are provided on the station building in the form of a chiselled arrow below a chiselled horizontal line. The Reduced Level (height above the mean sea level) of this line is reflected in the station name boards.
Accounts- The Department is watchdog of Railway Finance. The accounts professor said “the GM sits over Himalaya with vast powers. In fact, his financial powers are defined in the form of a short list of items in respect of which he has to seek prior approval of the Railway Board”. The Railway has obligation to pay Dividend to the General Revenue, at the rate decided by the Railway Convention Committee, on its Capital-at -large. However the capital invested in entire N.F. Rly is exempted from such a liability on the consideration that this Railway generally consists of strategic lines. We were apprised of the cannons of financial propriety.
Commercial- Prof. Raghubir Singh said “while booking a dog, apart from other particulars, one has to specify the name on which the dog responds. Once it so happened that a dog was booked in a train. During course of transfer to another train it let loose itself and made good its escape. The SM was in a fix. To set the matter right he managed to catch hold of a street dog which he dispatched. The customer at the destination was infuriated to see this transformation in the creature
Signal & Telecommunication- For SEMAPHORE SIGNALS the day aspect is displayed by semaphore arm and the night aspect by colour light. In Two Aspect Lower Quadrant (TALQ) Signalling the Semaphore arm is either horizontal (ON position indicating STOP) or lowered downward at an angle of 45 degree (OFF position indicating proceed ).
Lowering vertically downward is not feasible as it will bring the arm in line with the signal post and it cannot be discerned by the driver of the train.
In Multi aspect upper quadrant (MAUQ) signalling the Semaphore arm is raised upward. As a result, it is possible to show 3 aspects viz Horizontal (ON position indicating STOP), raised at 45 degree upward or raised vertically upward (OFF positions indicating proceed)
For both the types of semaphore signalling, during the night, the ON position is displayed by red light and OFF position by yellow or green light.
For COLOUR LIGHT SIGNALS both day and night aspects are displayed by colour light. It may be Two-aspect (either green-red or yellow-red type), 3-aspect (Green-yellow-red) or 4- aspect (yellow-green-yellow-red).
Both for day and night the ON position (indicating STOP ) is displayed by red light and the OFF positions (indicating Proceed) by yellow or green light.
LEVEL CROSSINGS—Either lifting barrier or leaf gates or chains are used to stop the road traffic in face of an approaching train. Important level crossings are provided with warning bells or protected by gate signals in which the signal can be taken off only after the gates are closed and a key is released .In foreign countries barriers are provided at the level crossings only for half the width of the road on which the road traffic is approaching. Because of high level of discipline nobody takes a wrong lane to circumvent the barrier.
Personnel- There are only two types of ‘Leave’ viz LAP (Leave on average pay) and LHAP (Leave on half average pay). They are further classified into ‘sick leave’, maternity leave’, ‘quarantine leave’, ‘study leave’, ‘commuted leave’, ‘Earned leave’ etc. The Establishment manual even contains clauses on ‘Leave without pay’ and ‘Leave not due’ for emergent situation. 6 sets of white coloured First Class A Privilege pass (free) and 6 PTO (privileged ticket order for use on one third payment) are admissible to Group A and Group B staff in a calendar year for self, wife, son upto 21 years age or student son irrespective of age & unmarried daughters. For travelling in air-conditioned class one third of difference between two classes is payable. 3 sets each are admissible for Group C and Group D staff. One set implies one outward journey and one return journey say Howrah to Mumbai and back to Howrah constitutes one set. Silver-bronze metal pass is provided to junior officers for unlimited travel over a railway on duty. Silver metal pass for use by Senior officers entitles the holder unlimited travel over the Indian railways ON DUTY. Gold metal pass is given to the officers of GM/Equivalent rank and above ON DUTY. Each metal pass bears a distinctive number and is provided with a small loop to facilitate placement in a key ring. Card passes are given to Group C and Group D staff for their day to day journey in performance of duty. Officers belong to the ‘Exclusive’ category and are conditioned to respond to the call of duty at any hour.
The college has a rich library equipped with codes, manuals. reports, magazines and periodicals on varied topics. Cards were provided to the training officers to facilitate issue of books. I utilized the period of my 4 months stay to go through selected publications on development of railways in some countries and the social responsibility discharged by the Indian Railways.
During our stay the New year (1964) was celebrated in the recreational hall. There was a quiz, one glass water jug was partly filled with water and the remaining portion with ping pong balls. A paper was pasted on the outside in a way that the line of demarcation was not visible. One had to guess the number of ping pong balls. There was a prize for the best guess. After the guesswork was over the winner of the prize was announced. Another prize was announced for the worst guess. A proud Vice Principal, Sri Francis De Costa (Professor, operating) walked to the dais to receive the prize.
The memorable training ended with an educational trip to different work centres of the Railway, dispersing at Agra.
Unforgettable are the memories of the ashlar stone façade of the palatial college building, its verdant lawn and the spectrum of vibrant Faculty members shaping our attributes. Apart from getting induction in Railway culture we subtly received unsaid lessons on table manners , civility and courtesy, which stood us in good stead not only in the service but even beyond it. A deep friendly bond was fostered amongst the batchmates. which endure even today. Those days of RSC- a treasured past, forever cherished, forever to last.
On return from Baroda, I had to spend some more time at Tatanagar and then proceed to Kolaghat in Howrah-Kharagpur section. Arising out of construction of the third line between Howrah and Kharagpur the following works were in progress on the Kolaghat bridge on Rupnarayan river between Deulti and Kolaghat.
Regirdering of the bridge on the down line & (ii) Construction of a new bridge
Almost all the probationers of my batch arrived here in small groups for the same purpose. It was useful training in regirdering, construction of cofferdam , assembly of well-curb, sinking of well and quality-control of concrete used in the work. Next phase of training was in the open line at Muri with the AEN, PWI and IOW. While at Muri I used to travel to Ranchi on the weekends on footplate inspections. On showing the card pass we were served with meals at concessional rate at the B.N.R. hotel near the station.
