Some railway employees protested against the railway administration in front of the Vande Bharat Express at Dehradun railway station around 6 AM on Monday after getting information about the train being operated by a loco pilot of the Delhi division. The members of the Northern Railway Men's Union (NRMU) did not let Delhi’s loco pilot operate the train and it was ultimately operated by a loco pilot of the Dehradun division, said Ugrasen Singh, the secretary of NRMU, Dehradun. He said that when the Express was run by a loco pilot from Dehradun during the  Vande Bharat trial, why was the loco pilot called from Delhi to operate it.

He told The Pioneer, “We protested because the Railways administration has appointed loco pilots for trains like Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi and now Vande Bharat from Delhi division despite having all facilities available here. We expect the Railways to at least maintain a balance as per the guidelines.”

He claimed that the loco pilot from Delhi returned after the union members did not let him operate the express. He also said that they will continue to hold protests every day till the authorities concerned issue an order stating that a loco pilot from the Dehradun division will operate the express. On asking about the protest, the station superintendent of Dehradun railway station, Shashank Sharma told The Pioneer that there was no protest by employees and everything is sorted out. “Everything is quite normal and no protest is going to happen that will affect the operation of Vande Bharat from Dehradun,” he added.