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Balutedar 03 - Railway Loco Pilot : Vinayak Dixit

Quiz with Abhijeet Pendharkar | Based on interview with Mr. Vinayak Dixit by Dhananjay Gokhale | For DVDs write to gita@dgonline.in

Guess what a railway engine driver does!

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Instructions

  1. Every slide has one question asked by Dhananjay to Mr. Dixit.
  2. The answer to the question is represented in visual form.
  3. By looking at the graphics, you have to figure out what Mr. Dixit must have said.
  4. If you want to compare your guess with what Mr. Dixit actually said, please watch Balutedar03 video!

Question : Are there any incidents of train missing tracks?

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Picture1: Train missing track is an accident. Track trackRoute.
Picture2: Train missing route rarely happens.

Question : How did you decide to get in this profession?

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In young age, while travelling in BEST bus, Mr. Dixit used to watch the bus conductor.
He was fascinated by the noise of the ticket machine ('tick, tick'), noise of change & colours of tickets. However he was destined to be a loco pilot.

Question : How do you take charge of the train?

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Step1: You have to arrive 1 hour 15 minutes before train time.
Step2: You have to take charge of the engine in shed.
Step3: You have to perform extensive checks (includes self test such as alcohol).
Step4: Rock n Roll!

Question : Who schedules the trains?

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Trains are scheduled by THE Railways Board!

Question : What kind of signals are there? Do you communicate with signals?

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There are so many types of signals, railways have a 'Geeta' for reading & decoding them!

Question : What it takes to grow in hierarchy?

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Step1: You have to start as assistant loco pilot (work with main pilot)
Step2: You become shunting driver
Step3: You become 'ghat' driver
Step4: You become express mail driver

Question : What has been your experience with people?

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"Delete bad & keep good experiences!"

Question : ......

09

Why can't we have something like PMFC (Project Management Fan Club)?

Question : What is a banker engine?

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The front engine & banker engine communicate only through braking system. That's why they have lots of meters in the engine room. Looking at meter one has to figure out whether the other is progressing or regressing.

Question : What is 'up' & 'down'?

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Route chart is prepared on paper or on board. Starting from top, all stations are listed vertically down. Hence train moving away from the Head Quarter is 'Down'. Even if a train is going up the gradient, it could be a 'Down' train.

Question : What is road learning?

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Training school never teaches how to drive a train. You have to travel with a loco pilot for 21 days. There are tricky locations & dynamic platform changes. If you have not travelled on a line for more than 3 months or if you are absent for more than 15 days , superior will accompany you on your first trip.

Question : Competencies?

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Like ship captains & aeroplane pilots, railway engine drivers also tend to exhibit mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. They want everything to be neat, tidy & perfect.

Question : How is this profession for women?

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It's not safe! It's not about abilities, but about Enterprise Environmental Factors.

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