Parliament Question: Representation of reserved categories in posts in Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3325 ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026 REPRESENTATION OF RESERVED CATEGORIES IN POSTS IN RAILWAYS 3325 SHRI RYAGA KRISHNAIAH: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the current representation of Other Backward Class (OBC) categories in Group 'A,' 'B,' 'C' and 'D' categories in all zones of Indian Railways; (b) the details of the status of current pending vacancies, including backlog for SC and ST in all categories i.e., Group 'A,' 'B,' 'C' and 'D' of Indian Railways; and (c) the details of the representation of SC and ST employees in senior management positions, such as General Manager, Divisional Railway Manager and equivalent posts, in Railway Board and various Railway zones? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (c): The extant provision of providing 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in recruitment is followed in the Railways. The percentage representations of Other Backward Class employees in all categories (i.e. Group ‘A’ ‘B and ‘C’ including Level-1), in Indian Railways, as on 01.01.2026 is as under: Category Provision In place OBC 27% 27.43% Recruitment done in Indian Railways during 2004-05 to 2013-14 vis-à-vis during 2014-15 to 2024-25 is given as under: - Period Recruitments SC category ST category 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 4.11 lakh 64,244 (15.6%) 36,231 (8.8%) 2014-2015 to 2024-2025 5.08 lakh 79,115 (15.6%) 42,989 (8.5%) §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. Every effort is made to fill up the reserved vacancies by the candidates belonging to the earmarked category along with the other candidates. Shortfall/Backlog of vacancies of SCs, STs & OBCs remained unfilled, if any, are taken care of and carried forward for filling up through subsequent recruitment cycle. The recruitment process in Railways is being conducted regularly through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) etc. Since recruitment in Railways is undertaken on regular basis and expeditiously, launching of special recruitment drive is not required. 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. 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, 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 (18,799 vacancies) 18,40,347 156 15 CBT for the post of Technician (14,298 vacancies) 26,99,892 139 15 1st Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA 11,01,266 146 15 (7,951 vacancies) CBT for the post of RPF-SI (452 vacancies) 15,35,635 143 15 CBT for the post of RPF-Constable (4,208 vacancies) 45,30,288 147 15 CBT for Paramedical Categories (1,376 vacancies) 7,08,321 143 15 1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Categories 58,41,774 141 15 (Graduate) (8,113 vacancies) 1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Categories 63,27,473 157 15 (Under Graduate) (3,445 vacancies) CBT for Ministerial & Isolated categories 4,46,013 139 15 (1,036 vacancies) CBT for level-1 posts (32438 vacancies) 1,08,28,261 152 15 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 (18,799 vacancies) 2,66,363 112 15 2nd Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA (7,951 1,17,339 118 15 vacancies) 2nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Categories 1,21,931 129 15 (Graduate) (8,113 vacancies) §2nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Categories 51,978 79 15 (Under-Graduate) (3,445 vacancies) Total Candidates 5,57,611 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 Graduate) 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 and Isolated 1,233 8 2 Categories CBAT for the post of Non-Technical Popular 13,616 38 2 Categories (Graduate) Computer Based Typing Skill Test (CBTST) for the 30,341 58 2 post of Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate-level) Computer Based Typing Skill Test (CBTST) for the 13,145 44 2 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. In 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 Vacancies Month notified of Notification 01/2025 Assistant Loco Pilots 9,970 March 2025 02/2025 Technician 6,238 June 2025 03/2025 Paramedical categories 434 July 2025 §04/2025 Section Controller 368 August 2025 Junior Engineer (JE)/ Depot 2,585 October 2025 Material Superintendent/Chemical & 05/2025 Metallurgical Assistant Non-Technical Popular 5,810 October 2025 06/2025 Categories (Graduate) Non-Technical Popular 3,058 October 2025 07/2025 Categories (Under-Graduate) 08/2025 Isolated Categories 312 December 2025 09/2025 Level-1 posts 22,195 December 2025 Total 50,970 First stage/Single stage Computer Based Tests (CBTs) for 19,595 posts have been completed. Details are as under: - Exam Candidates Cities Languages 141 15 1st Stage CBT for the post of ALP (9970 vacancies) 10,03,719 CBT for the post of Section Controller 131 15 4,33,748 (368 vacancies) 1st Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA 5,74,351 133 15 (2585 vacancies) CBT for the post of Technician (6238 vacancies) 8,41,525 117 15 CBT for the post of Paramedical Categories 3,19,396 106 15 (434 vacancies) Total Candidates 31,72,739 Further, 11,127 vacancies of ALP have been approved for notification in the Calendar year 2026. Reservation is applicable upto lowest rung of Group ‘A’ only. The promotions/postings of the officers at senior level are done as per the extant rules, procedures and guidelines irrespective of the category of officer. ***** §