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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1732
TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2026
RESERVATION POLICY FOR SC/ST IN RAILWAYS
1732. SHRI MANOJ KUMAR:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has data regarding employment provided to
Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Railways;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the number of SC/ST candidates
recruited in Railways from 2014 to 2026, year-wise;
(c) whether the prescribed reservation policy for SC/ST candidates is being
fully implemented in Railway recruitment and if so, the details thereof;
and
(d) the details of backlog vacancies reserved for SC/ST candidates, if any,
in various categories of Railway jobs?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
*****
(a) to (d): 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) [SC-86,165, (15.4%)]
[ST-46,902 (8.4%)]
§ 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.
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.
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 1,61,889 vacancies (including SC-24,154, ST-
13,065 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)/
Page 2 of 8Depot 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 92116 posts have
been completed. Details are as under:-
Exam Candidates Cities Languages
1st Stage CBT for the post of 18,40,347 156 15
ALP (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- 45,30,288 147 15
Constable (4,208 vacancies)
CBT for Paramedical 7,08,321 143 15
Categories (1,376 vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for Non- 58,41,774 141 15
Technical Popular Categories
(Graduate) (8,113 vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for Non- 63,27,473 157 15
Technical Popular Categories
(Under Graduate) (3,445
vacancies)
Page 3 of 8CBT 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.
Details are as under:
Page 4 of 8Exam 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
Paramedical July-2025
03/2025 434
Categories
Page 5 of 804/2025 Section Controller 368 August-2025
Junior Engineers 2,585 October-2025
(JEs)/ Depot Material
Superintendent
(DMS)/ Chemical &
Metallurgical
05/2025 Assistant (CMA)
Non-Technical 5,810 October-2025
Popular Categories
06/2025 (Graduate)
Non-Technical 3,058 October-2025
Popular Categories
07/2025 (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 (10970 10,03,719 141 15
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 8,41,525 117 15
vacancies)
Page 6 of 8CBT for Paramedical Categories (434 3,19,396 106 15
vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular 25,89,851 142 15
Categories (Graduate) (5810 vacancies)
1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular 32,95,980 142 15
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
Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for the post of Section Controller has
also been completed. Details are as under:
Exam Candidates Cities Languages
CBAT for the post of 2,989 24 2
Section Controller (368
vacancies)
Page 7 of 8Further, 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
Assistant Loco March-2026
01/2026 11,127
Pilots
02/2026 Technician 6,557 May-2026
03/2026 Section Controller 119 June-2026
Reservation to eligible categories like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes is provided as per extant norms of Government of India.
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 and STs 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.
*****
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