Railways ‘guard’ redesignated as 'train manager'. Will it affect pay scale?

Assistant guard will now be ‘assistant passenger train manager’, goods guard will be ‘goods train manager’, senior passengers’ guard will be ‘senior passenger train manager’ and mail or express train guard will be 'mail/express train manager'.

Indian Railways on Friday announced its decision to re-designate the post of ‘guard’ as ‘train manager’, fulfilling a long-pending demand. The ministry of railways said that the issue of designation had been under deliberation in Railway Board in consultation with recognised federations. The ministry added that the new designation of ‘train manager’ is “more in consonance with their existing duties and responsibilities” and will improve the motivation level of the employees.

Senior railway officials said the issue to redesignate the post of ‘guard’ as ‘train manager was being demanded for quite some time. (Sameer Sehgal / HT Photo)

In an order dated January 13, the ministry of railways said that ‘assistant guard’ and ‘goods guard’ will now be known as ‘assistant passenger train manager’ and ‘goods train manager’, respectively. The ‘mail/express guard’ will be known as ‘mail/express train manager’. Similarly, ‘senior goods guard’ and ‘senior passenger guard’ have been re-designated as ‘senior goods train manager’ and ‘senior passenger train manager’, respectively.

Will the redesignation affect the pay scale?

The ministry clarified that the pay levels will remain unchanged after redesignation. The method of recruitment, seniority and avenues of promotion will also remain unaffected by the decision.

“The revised designations will not entail any change in their pay levels, method of recruitment, existing duties and responsibilities, seniority and avenues of promotion,” the order stated.