Continuous Recruitment and Manpower Management in Indian Railways

Continuous Recruitment and Manpower Management in Indian Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2198
TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2025

RAILWAYS BOOST RECRUITMENT

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the details of total vacancies along with their current status in Indian Railways in the country including Maharashtra undertakings zone-wise and the timeline for filling these vacancies;

(b) the manner in which the introduction of the annual recruitment calendar is to address delays and uncertainties in the recruitment process;

(c) the steps being taken to ensure fair regional representation in railway recruitment particularly for States like Maharashtra with lower selection rates;

(d) whether the Government proposes to introduce specialized training programmes for new recruits to enhance their technical competencies before deployment and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps taken to enhance passenger safety in Railways?

ANSWER

(a) to (e): Occurrence and filling up of vacancies are continuous processes on Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation. Adequate and suitable manpower is provided to cater to the regular operations, changes in technology, mechanisations and innovative practices. The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements.

After easing of restrictions imposed on account of COVID 19, two major examinations involving more than 2.37 crore candidates have been conducted successfully.

Based on these exams, 1,30,581 candidates have been recruited in Railways.

Recruitment done in Indian Railways during 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 vis-à-vis during 2014-2015 to 2023-2024 is given as under: –

Further, as a system improvement, the Ministry of Railways has introduced a system of publishing annual calendar from 2024 for recruitment to various categories of Group ‘C’ posts. The introduction of annual calendar will benefit the aspirants in the following manner:

• More opportunities for candidates;
• Opportunities to those becoming eligible every year;
• Certainty of exams;
• Faster Recruitment process, Training and Appointments

Accordingly, ten Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 92,116 vacancies have been notified during January to December 2024 for filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots, Technicians, Sub-Inspectors, Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF), Junior Engineers (JEs)/ Depot Material Superintendent (DMS)/ Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant (CMA), Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate), Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial & Isolated Categories and Level-1 posts. First stage Computer Based Test for 41,500 posts has been completed from 25.11.2024 to 30.12.2024.

Details are as under:-

In addition, Computer Based Test for RPF CEN No. 02/2024 (4208 vacancies) for the post of Constable has started from 02.03.2025 onwards. 2nd Stage Computer Based Test (CBT-II) for CEN No. 01/2024, for the post of Assistant Loco Pilot is scheduled on 19.03.2025 and 20.03.2025.

Railways, being a Central Government organization conduct recruitment on all India basis. This is in line with Constitutional provision of right to equality in matters of public employment and as per the guidelines of DOPT, the nodal department of Government of India in such matters. Every candidate irrespective of gender, language, place of birth/region etc. fulfilling eligibility criteria is free to apply. All those who apply in response to Centralised Employment Notifications (CENS), including local candidates are considered for recruitment on the Railways, on equal footing. No preference is given to candidates belonging to any State or Region nor is the recruitment restricted to any State or Region.

As safe train operation is the top most priority of Indian Railways, special emphasis is laid on the training of safety category employees. Detailed training modules including on Kavach system as per prescribed periodicity are available for respective categories at initial and promotional stages along with refresher courses as well as specialized training courses, laying emphasis on practical aspects which help them in skill upgradation and assimilation with related advanced technology, keeping a focus on overall safety and passenger experience. These modules are also updated keeping in view the technological changes in working practice.

Training Centres located all over Indian Railways impart various type of trainings i.e. Initial, Promotional, Refresher & Specialized:

• Initial Training – for the purpose of introducing the new entrants to the various facets of Railway operations and management.
• Promotional Training – for the purpose of preparing serving staff in advance for jobs of higher responsibilities.
• Refresher Training – for the purpose of refreshing the serving employees periodically with new ideas and principles for improving efficiency in their jobs.
• Specialized Training – for the purpose of updating the knowledge of technological developments, quantitative techniques, etc. e.g. PRS, new locomotives, signalling system, Track Technology etc. Besides these training, some other / special courses are also run by the Training Institutes for non-gazetted staff on Indian Railways i.e. Training for Frontline Staff in Soft Skills, Customer Care Training,

Disaster Management Training, Accident Investigation Programme for all Supervisors, Investigation of derailment for JE/SSE (P.Way), Train Parting Programme for Drivers, Threat Perception and Emergency Response, Fire Fighting and First Aid Skills, Gender sensitization, Yoga and Meditation and other training etc.

Safety is accorded the highest priority on Indian Railways. As a consequence of various safety measures taken over the years, there has been a steep decline in the number of accidents. Consequential Train Accidents have reduced from 135 in 2014-15 to 40 in 2023-24 as shown in the graph below. The causes of these accidents broadly include track defects, loco/coach defects, equipment failures, human errors etc.

It may be noted that the consequential train accidents during the period 2004-14 was 1711 (average 171 per annum), which has declined to 678 during the period 2014-24 (average 68 per annum) i.e. a reduction of 60%.

Another important index showing improved safety in train operations is Accidents Per Million Train Kilometer (APMTKM) which has reduced from 0.11 in 2014-15 to 0.03 in 2023-24, indicating an improvement of approx. 73% during the said period.

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