Dhaka, Jan. 29 -- Around 2,000 running staff of Bangladesh Railway (BR) operate over 350 trains in the country. Of them, 1,177 are locomotive masters (LMs) and assistant locomotive masters (ALMs).

All these staff get extra-hour-running benefit, known as mileage allowance or running allowance after 100 kilometres of train operation, which is equivalent to their one-day basic payment.

Other running staff are guards and travelling ticket examiners (TTEs).

Some other staff, including line electricians, feeder attendant, switchboard attendant, and refrigerator mechanics, work on running trains. But they are not officially included as running staff, who have been enjoying running allowance since 1931 when electricity in trains were not intro...