What is an ‘A grade’ driver, or a ‘B’ driver, etc.?

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What is an ‘A grade’ driver, or a ‘B’ driver, etc.?

July 17, 2019, 1:03 PM

There are some variations across the zones, but in the main the following grades of drivers are usual in the railway hierarchy.

An A special driver is one qualified to handle mail, superfast, and express trains. An A driver is qualified to handle ordinary long-distance passenger trains. In some zones, there is no separate category of ‘A-special’, and all ‘A’ drivers are eligible to drive express trains, but only elite or senior A-grade drivers are assigned prestigious expresses like the Rajdhanis. In some zones such as WR, this has also been done away with and ‘A’ drivers are uniformly eligible to drive any kind of long-distance or express train.

A B driver is restricted to local passenger trains, commuter shuttles, and DMUs/MEMUs. However, they can be assigned as assistant drivers for express and mail trains.

A C driver handles goods trains or shunters

Local or suburban drivers of EMUs, DMUs, etc. are classified as Motormen and are considered on par with the A grade drivers in terms of the hierarchy.

When there is a need, a goods driver or local train driver may drive an express trains. E.g., in the summer months when there is higher traffic, goods drivers are often assigned to holiday special expresses by CR, WR, etc.

A driver usually begins his career as a diesel or electric loco assistant driver, where his job is mainly to check the state of the locomotive, help with all the auxiliary equipment as needed, and to call out the aspects of the signals (which are confirmed by the driver). An assistant driver works as an assistant on goods trains, then on passenger trains, and finally on express trains, before becoming a shunter (driver for shunting only) or a goods driver. After that he can progress as a driver on passenger trains and finally on express trains. Candidates are selected through the examinations conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board. Training for a driver’s position begins with preliminary theoretical classes followed by six weeks of road learning (also known as learning road or ‘LR’ training) to get hands-on experience with trains, tracks, and signals. There is then a 33-week training period during which the trainee is essentially on probation while serving out as an assistant driver, after which he or she is inducted as a full assistant driver on successful completion of various qualifying tests. It takes at least 8 or 10 years, usually more, before an assistant driver works up the ranks to become the driver for a Rajdhani or Shatabdi train.

The various grades for drivers include: Driver, Passenger Driver, Senior Passenger Driver, Goods Driver, Senior Goods Driver, Shunter, Senior Shunter, Fireman, Senior Fireman, Diesel Assistant, Senior Diesel Assistant, Electric Assistant, Senior Electric Assistant, Second Fireman, Senior Second Fireman.

When a driver is assigned to a route for the first time, he undertakes three trips each in the up and down directions on the route for the purpose of familiarizing himself with the route. This is known as road learning. These road learning trips have to be repeated if the driver has not driven on a section for a long time (1 trip for an absence of 3 months, 2 for 6 months to 2 years, and 3 for longer absences; 3 trips in any case if the section is a ghat section, in automatic block territory, or otherwise has unusual characteristics). Road learning for most drivers tends to be for a particular route that they handle regularly. Occasionally, however, drivers may maintain road learning for more than one route at a time and regularly drive on all of them, but in such cases often the total track distance on all the routes combined is not high. At Secunderabad there was a recent case of a driver who was qualified and allotted for both diesel and electric duty, and who maintained road learning for over 650km of track on two different routes (Balharshah – Secunderabad / Secunderabad – Raichur) that he handled trains on — an exceptional situation.

Because electrification has been spreading extensively in recent years, there are many situations where senior drivers with a lot of experience with diesel locos have recently switched to driving electrics as well; in rare cases drivers who show exceptional ability may be allotted work on both diesel and electric loco links.

Source – IFRCA.org

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