Parliament Question: Recruitment, Vacancies and Training in Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1684 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2026 RECRUITMENT, VACANCIES AND TRAINING IN RAILWAYS 1684. SHRI BASAVARAJ BOMMAI: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details on the current vacancy status in Railways and the timeline for filling these vacancies; (b) whether the introduction of the annual recruitment calendar addresses delays and uncertainties in the recruitment process and if so, the details thereof; (c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to ensure fair regional representation in railway recruitment particularly for States with lower selection rates; (d) whether the Railways conduct recruitment tests in regional languages in the States particularly in Southern India and if so, the details thereof; (e) whether there are plans to introduce specialised training programmes for new recruits to enhance their technical competencies before deployment; and (f) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (f): Recruitment 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 2026-2027 5.56 lakh (upto 30.06.2026) § Page 1 of 8Occurrence 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. 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. 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. In order to facilitate candidates in direct recruitment examinations, Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) conduct Computer Based Tests (CBTs) in English, Hindi and 13 regional Indian languages viz., Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The RRB examinations are quite technical in nature entailing large scale mobilization 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. Page 2 of 8Further, 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 1,61,889 vacancies of non-gazetted personnel has been taken up on Indian Railways as per Annual Calendar 2024, 2025 and 2026. 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, 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 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) Page 3 of 8CBT 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) CBT for Ministerial & Isolated 4,46,013 139 15 categories (1,036 vacancies) CBT for Level-1 posts (32438 1,08,28,261 152 15 vacancies) Total Candidates 3,58,59,270 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) (3445 vacancies) Total Candidates 5,57,611 Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for the posts of ALP and Non- Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) and Computer Based Skill Tests for the posts of Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate and Under Graduate) and Ministerial & Isolated Categories have also been completed. Page 4 of 8Details are as under: Exam Candidates Cities Languages CBAT for the post of ALP 1,32,044 84 2 Translation Test for Ministerial and 1,233 8 2 Isolated Categories CBAT for the post of Non-Technical 13,616 38 2 Popular Categories (Graduate) Computer Based Typing Skill 30,341 58 2 Test(CBTST) for the posts of Non- Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) CBTST for the post of Non-Technical 13,145 44 2 Popular Categories(Under Graduate) Total Candidates 1,90,379 During 2026-2027 (upto 30.06.2026) panels for more than 3,300 candidates for various posts including the posts of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, Ministerial & Isolated categories and Assistant Loco Pilots have been finalised. Majority of them are in safety categories. In addition, as per Annual Calendar for the year 2025, nine Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 51970 vacancies have also been issued. Details are as under:- CEN No. Post Name No. of Month of Vacancies Notification notified 01/2025 Assistant Loco Pilots 10,970 March-2025 02/2025 Technician 6,238 June-2025 03/2025 Paramedical Categories 434 July-2025 04/2025 Section Controller 368 August-2025 05/2025 Junior Engineers (JEs)/ Depot 2,585 October-2025 Material Superintendent (DMS)/ Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant (CMA) 06/2025 Non-Technical Popular 5,810 October-2025 Categories (Graduate) Page 5 of 807/2025 Non-Technical Popular 3,058 October-2025 Categories (Under-Graduate) 08/2025 Isolated Categories 312 December-2025 09/2025 Level-1 posts 22,195 December-2025 Total 51,970 First stage/Single stage Computer Based Tests (CBTs) for 29,775 posts have been completed. Details are as under:- Exam Candidates Cities Languages CBT for the post of Section Controller 4,33,748 131 15 (368 vacancies) 1st Stage CBT for the post of ALP 10,03,719 141 15 (10970 vacancies) 1st Stage CBT for the post of 5,74,351 133 15 JE/DMS/CMA (2585 vacancies) CBT for the post of Technician (6238 8,41,525 117 15 vacancies) CBT for Paramedical Categories (434 3,19,396 106 15 vacancies) 1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical 25,89,851 142 15 Popular Categories (Graduate) (5810 vacancies) 1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical 32,95,980 142 15 Popular Categories (Under Graduate) (3058 vacancies) CBT for Isolated categories (312 37,774 34 15 vacancies) Total Candidates 90,96,344 2nd stage CBTs for the posts of JE/DMS/CMA and Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) have also been completed. Details are as under: Exam Candidates Cities Languages 2nd Stage CBT for the post of 39,034 90 15 JE/DMS/CMA (2585 vacancies) 2nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical 87,317 98 15 Popular Categories (Graduate) (5810 vacancies) Total Candidates 1,26,351 Page 6 of 8Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for the posts of Section Controller has also been completed. Details are as under: Exam Candidates Cities Languages CBAT for the post of Section 2,989 24 2 Controller (368 vacancies) Further, as per Annual Calendar for the year 2026, three Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 17,803 vacancies have been issued. Details are as under: CEN No. Post Name No. of Vacancies Month of notified Notification 01/2026 Assistant Loco Pilots 11,127 March-2026 02/2026 Technician 6,557 May-2026 03/2026 Section Controller 119 June-2026 Indian Railways have taken several measures to enhance work productivity, motivation and professional competencies of railway employees through structured capacity building and advanced training. Capacity building and skill upgradation are continuous and institutionalized processes supported by a well-established training framework across Indian Railways. Indian Railways have developed a comprehensive training ecosystem in the form of Centralized Training Institutes (CTIs), Multi-disciplinary Zonal Training Institutes (MDZTIs), Multi-disciplinary Divisional Training Institutes (MDDTIs), providing training interventions at various stages of the career of Indian Railway employees to ensure skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling. As safe train operation is the top most priority of Indian Railways, special emphasis is laid on training of safety category employees. Detailed training Page 7 of 8modules including 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. Training modules are designed to strengthen employees’ competencies and equip railway personnel with the skills required for modern, technology-intensive railway operations. These modules are also periodically updated to incorporate new technologies in railway operations and maintenance. Besides these trainings, some other / special courses are also run by the Training Institutes i.e. Training for Frontline Staff in Soft Skills, Customer Care Training, Disaster Management Training, Accident Investigation Programme for all Supervisors, Investigation for 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. ***** Page 8 of 8