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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5467
TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026
ENGAGEMENT OF CONTRACTUAL POINTSMEN IN RAILWAYS
5467. SHRI AZAD KIRTI JHA:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has approved the engagement of around 5000
ex-servicemen as pointsmen on a contractual basis in Railways and if
so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government is facing a regular manpower crunch that
requires contractual staff to operate critical safety systems despite the
potential safety threat due to lack of their long- term accountability and
if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of reasons for not complying with the recommendations of
Commissioner of Railway Safety after the Bagmati Express accident for
reviewing and eliminating the practice of deploying contractual staff in
safety critical areas; and
(d) whether the Government has taken concerns of different stakeholders
into consideration, given large scale backlash from unions protesting
the move and if so, the details thereof and measures taken in response?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (d) : Recruitments done in Indian Railways during 2004-05 to 2013-14
vis-à-vis during 2014-15 to 2025-26 is given as under: -
Period Recruitments
2004-2005 to 2013-2014 4.11 lakh
2014-2015 to 2024-2025 5.08 lakh
2025-26 till date 42,380
Page 1 of 7
§The occurrence and filling up of vacancies in Indian Railways is a
continuous process, considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality
of operations. Adequate and suitable manpower is provided to cater to
operational requirements, technological changes, mechanisation and
innovative practices, with vacancies primarily filled through indents placed
with recruitment agencies as per operational and technological
requirements.
The RRB examinations are quite technical in nature entailing large scale
mobilisation of men and resources and training of manpower. Railway
overcame all these challenges and successfully conducted the recruitment
in a transparent manner following all laid down guidelines. No instance of
paper leakage or similar malpractice has occurred during the entire
process.
Further, as system improvement, the Ministry of Railways has introduced a
system of publishing the Annual Calendar from 2024 for recruitment to
various categories of Group ‘C’ posts. The introduction of the Annual
Calendar is benefitting 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
Presently, recruitment against 1,43,086 vacancies of non-gazetted
personnel has been taken up on Indian Railways as per Annual Calendar
2024 and 2025. During January to December 2024, ten Centralized
Employment Notifications (CENs) for 92,116 vacancies were notified for
filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs), Technicians (including
Technician Grade-I Signal), Sub-Inspectors, Constables in Railway
Protection Force (RPF), Junior Engineers (JEs)/ Depot Material
Superintendent (DMS)/ Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant (CMA) (including
Page 2 of 7JE Signal), Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories
(Graduate), Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial
& Isolated Categories and Level-1 categories such as Assistants, Track
Maintainers and Pointsman. First Stage/Single stage Computer Based Tests
(CBTs) for 92,116 posts have been completed. Details are as under: -
Exam Candidates Cities Languages
1st Stage CBT for the post of ALP 18,40,347 156 15
(18,799 vacancies)
CBT for the post of Technician 26,99,892 139 15
(14,298 vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for the post of 11,01,266 146 15
JE/DMS/CMA
(7,951 vacancies)
CBT for the post of RPF-SI (452 15,35,635 143 15
vacancies)
CBT for the post of RPF-Constable 45,30,288 147 15
(4,208 vacancies)
CBT for Paramedical Categories 7,08,321 143 15
(1,376 vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical 58,41,774 141 15
Popular Categories (Graduate) (8,113
vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical 63,27,473 157 15
Popular Categories (Under Graduate)
(3,445 vacancies)
Page 3 of 7CBT for Ministerial & Isolated 4,46,013 139 15
categories
(1,036 vacancies)
CBT for level-1 posts (32,438 1,08,28,261 152 15
vacancies)
Total Candidates 3,58,59,270
The 2nd stage CBTs for the posts of ALP, JE/DMS/CMA and Non-Technical
Popular Categories (Graduate & Under-Graduate) have also been
completed. Details are as under: -
Exam Candidates Cities Languages
2nd Stage CBT for the post of ALP 2,66,363 112 15
(18,799 vacancies)
2nd Stage CBT for the post of 1,17,339 118 15
JE/DMS/CMA
(7,951 vacancies)
2nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical 1,21,931 129 15
Popular Categories (Graduate) (8,113
vacancies)
2nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical 51,978 79 15
Popular Categories (Under-Graduate)
(3,445 vacancies)
Total Candidates 5,57,611
The Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for the post of ALP and Non-
Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) and Computer based Skill Test for
the post of Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate and Under
Page 4 of 7Graduate) and Ministerial & Isolated Categories have also been completed.
Details are as under: -
Exam Candidates Cities Languages
CBAT for the post of ALP 1,32,044 84 2
Translation Test for Ministerial 1,233 8 2
and Isolated Categories
CBAT for the post of Non- 13,616 38 2
Technical Popular Categories
(Graduate)
Computer Based Typing Skill Test 30,341 58 2
(CBTST) for the post of Non-
Technical Popular Categories
(Graduate-level)
Computer Based Typing Skill Test 13,145 44 2
(CBTST) for the post of Non-
Technical Popular
Categories (Under-Graduate-level)
Total Candidates 1,90,379
Panels for more than 42,000 candidates for various posts including the
posts of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, Sub-
Inspectors & Constable (RPF) and Assistant Loco Pilots have
been finalised. Majority of them are in safety categories.
Page 5 of 7In addition, as per Annual Calendar for the year 2025, nine Centralized
Employment Notifications (CENs) for 50,970 vacancies have also been
issued. Details are as under:-
CEN No. Post Name No. of Month
Vacancies of Notification
notified
01/2025 Assistant Loco Pilots 9,970 March 2025
02/2025 Technicians 6,238 June 2025
03/2025 Paramedical categories 434 July 2025
04/2025 Section Controller 368 August 2025
05/2025 Junior Engineer (JE) / Depot 2,585 October 2025
Material Superintendent /
Chemical & Metallurgical
Assistant
06/2025 Non-Technical Popular 5,810 October 2025
Categories (Graduate)
07/2025 Non-Technical Popular 3,058 October 2025
Categories (Under-Graduate)
08/2025 December
Isolated Categories 312 2025
09/2025 Level-1 posts (Including 22,195 December
Assistants, Track Maintainers 2025
and Pointsman)
Total 50,970
Page 6 of 7First stage/Single stage Computer Based Tests (CBTs) for 19,595 posts
have been completed. Details are as under: -
Exam Candidates Cities Languages
1st Stage CBT for the post of ALP 10,03,719 141 15
(9,970 vacancies)
CBT for the post of Section Controller 4,33,748 131 15
(368 vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for the post of 5,74,351 133 15
JE/DMS/CMA (2,585 vacancies)
CBT for the post of Technician (6,238 8,41,525 117 15
vacancies)
CBT for the post of Paramedical 3,19,396 106 15
Categories (434 vacancies)
Total Candidates 31,72,739
However, in order to meet exigencies, sometimes Ex-Servicemen are
engaged as Pointsmen on temporary basis against the vacant posts as per
the laid down rules and procedures. Ex-Servicemen engaged as Pointsmen
on temporary basis are trained as per the requirements. Further, temporary
staff engaged for maintenance are used for non-critical activities along
with or under the supervision of Railway Staff.
The action taken has already been apprised to the Chief Commissioner of
Railway Safety, Ministry of Civil Aviation, New Delhi.
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