A rest room at the Rajendra Nagar railway station in Patna. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, July 30: There is something to cheer about for railway drivers and guards. Today, the Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) provided them with newly built running rooms equipped with modern facilities.

Instead of the small dingy rooms that drivers and guards use for resting, new running rooms with 28 beds have come up near Rajendra Nagar Junction.

ECR general manager K.K. Shrivastava inaugurated the room in the presence of Danapur divisional railway manager (DRM) L.M. Jha and other senior ECR officials.

Built at a cost of Rs 1 crore, the running room is equipped with modern facilities. It has 14 rooms with a common room, where guards and driver can mingle with each other. The new running room has a dining hall and special care has been taken of the food with two separate kitchens, one for the vegetarian and the other for non-vegetarian.

Inaugurating the rooms, Shrivastava said: “The railway is trying its level best to provide all facilities to train drivers and guards, whose roles are very significant. After driving for thousands of kilometres, their bodies need rest in good surroundings so that they can feel fresh. If they feel tired in the next shift, it becomes difficult for them to drive the train especially during night.”

He added: “Everyone needs rest after performing their duties and Indian Railways is sincere to take care of its employees. As far as driving and guarding a train is concerned, it is a well managed and planned job so it becomes our duty to provide them the best facilities so they do not feel alienated from the railway.”

Hundreds of train drivers and guards take rest at the running room in Patna Junction especially when trains from Mughalsarai reach Bihar. This lone running room is not up to the mark and the drivers have lodged complaint several times.

Every room is also equipped with a desert cooler and soon more facility would be provided. ECR is also planning to open more such kind of running rooms at Buxar and other stations.

When The Telegraph asked about maintenance of these facilities, Shrivastava said: “This is a major concern for the railways and we will make sure all these existing facilities shall be maintained forever.”

Jha emphasised on opening a new retiring room for passengers at Rajendra Nagar station. He said: “We are working on the project but soon we will open a retiring room for railway passengers on the pattern of Patna Junction.”