RAILWAY SERVANTS

(HOURS OF WORK AND PERIOD OF REST)

RULES - 2005

PART-I

INTRODUCTION



1. SHORT TITLE, COMMENCEMENT AND APPLICATION

 (1) These rules may be called the Railway Servants (Hours of Work and Period of Rest) Rules, 2005. 

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 

(3) They shall apply only to those railway servants to whom Chapter XIV of the Act applies. 

2. DEFINITIONS:- 

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,- 

(a) 'Act' means the Railways Act, 1989 (24 of 1989). 

(b) `full-night' means the period between 10.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m.; 

(c) 'long-on' means a period of duty over eight hours in the case of 'intensive' workers, over ten hours in the case of 'continuous’ workers and over twelve hours in the case of 'essentially intermittent' workers; 

(d) 'Ordinary rate of pay' includes- 

I. pay as defined in rule 1303 (F.R. 9) of the Indian Railway Establishment Code Volume-11 (1990 Edition) and includes element of running allowance to the extent of 30 per cent of basic pay in the case of running staff as defined in Rule 1507 of the aforesaid Code, II. 

(ii) Dearness Allowance, Additional Dearness Allowance and Dearness Pay, if any, and III. 

(iii) Compensatory (City) Allowance; 

(e) "Railway servants employed in confidential capacity" includes- 

(I) stenographers working either in a separate confidential cell or attached to the officers in Administrative offices, 

(II) cypher operators, 

(III) confidential Assistants and Personal Assistants, and 

(IV) any other railway servant who may be so specified by the Head of the Railway Administration to have been employed in confidential capacity; 

(f) 'Regional Labour Commissioner' means an officer appointed as such by the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour, by notification in the Official Gazette. 

(g) 'Roadside station' means a station other than- 

(I) an important junction station, 

(II) a station with marshalling yard, 

(III) an important terminal station, 

(IV) a station from which trains are ordered as a regular measure, and 

(V) a station where a separate goods office under a supervisory Goods Clerk, in the grade of Chief Goods Clerk or of higher rank sanctioned on the basis of workload in that Goods Office has been provided : - 

Provided that the Head of the Railway Administration or the authority to whom he may delegate this power, may draw up a list of road-side stations keeping in view the above definition. 

(h) 'Roster' means a document which shows the hours that a railway servant expected to be on duty every day, the daily as well as weekly rest and break between spells of duty in a day besides other necessary particulars; 

(i) 'Running staff' means the staff who are defined to be so in Rule 1507 of the Indian Railway Establishment Code, Volume-II (1990 Edition); 

(j) "Section" means a section of the Act; 

(k) 'Short off' means a period of rest which is- 

(i) in the case of intensive workers :- A. less than 12 hours in a roster of six hours duty, and B. less than 14 hours in a mixed roster of 6 and 8 hours duty, 

(ii) in the case of continuous worker—less than 10 hours, 

(iii) in the case of essentially intermittent workers - less than 8 hours, 

(l) 'Split duty' means duty in two or more spells with intervening breaks each of half or more hour necessitated by exigencies of work and when the employee is free to leave his place of duty. Intervals for rest and meals shall not breaks for the purpose of split duty; 

(m) 'Sustained attention' as used in clause (b), section 130 implies mental effort 

Explanation: A Pointsman waiting for the arrival of a train after setting points is required to give sustained attention. Similarly, a Station Master or an Assistant Station Master is generally required to pay sustained attention from time he gives line clear to the Station in rear till the time the train arrives and again from the time the line clear is asked for to the time the Block Section ahead is cleared. Wherever circumstances justify a different treatment, the period involving sustained attention maybe decided by the Controlling Authority. In case of any doubt, the decision of the Head of the Department shall be final. 

(n) All other words and expressions used but not defined in these rules shall the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Indian Railway Establishment Code or the Act.