Backlog vacancies of SC, ST, OBC and EWS in Indian Railways
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1549
ANSWERED ON 12.12.2025
BACKLOG VACANCIES OF SC, ST, OBC AND EWS IN INDIAN RAILWAYS
1549 SHRI JAVED ALI KHAN:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) the details of backlog vacancies of SC, ST, OBC and EWS in Indian Railways as on date, category-wise, group-wise and zone-wise;
(b) the details of backlog vacancies of SC, ST, OBC and EWS filled up from 1st April, 2024 to 31st March, 2025 and from 1st April, 2025 till date, category-wise, group-wise and year- wise; and
(c) the details of contractual appointments in Railways during the last three years and current year, till date, year-wise, group-wise, zone-wise and category-wise?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS
& INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (c): The extant provision of providing 15%, 7.5%, 27% and 10% reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) respectively in recruitments are followed in the Railways also.
Occurrence and filling up of vacancies including those of SCs/STs/OBCs/EWSs 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, mechanizations 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.
Indian Railway is regularly filling up the vacancies of various categories of Group ‘C’ post including SC, ST, OBC and EWS vacancies. Presently recruitment of 1,20,579 vacancies 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 (UR-40009, SC-13272, ST-7261, OBC-22461, EWS-9047, Backlog for PwBD-66) 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 59,678 posts has 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 (7,951 vacancies) | 11,01,266 | 146 | 15 |
| 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 (Graduate) (8,113 vacancies) |
58,41,774 | 141 | 15 |
| 1st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under Graduate) (3,445 vacancies) |
63,27,473 | 157 | 15 |
| CBT for Ministerial & Isolated categories (1,036 vacancies) | 4,46,013 | 139 | 15 |
2nd stage CBTs for the posts of ALP, JE/DMS/CMA and Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) has 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 vacancies) |
1,17,339 | 118 | 15 |
| 2nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) (8,113 vacancies) | 1,21,931 | 129 | 15 |
Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for the post of ALP has also been completed. Details are as under:-
| Exam | Candidates | Cities | Languages |
| CBAT for the post of ALP (18,799 vacancies) | 1,32,044 | 84 | 2 |
CBT for 32,438 vacancies for level -1 categories has commenced from 27.11.2025 in 140 cities in 15 languages. Physical efficiency Test (PET) for 4,208 vacancies of Constable (RPF) has commenced from 13.11.2025.
Panels for more than 23,000 candidates for various posts including the posts of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, Sub-Inspectors (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, seven Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 28,463 (UR-11815, SC-4658, ST-2457, OBC-6774, EWS-2755,
Backlog for PwBD-04) vacancies have also been issued. Details are as under:-
|
S. No. |
CEN No. | Post Name | No. of Vacancies notified | Month of Notification |
| 1 | 01/2025 | Assistant Loco Pilots | 9,970 | March 2025 |
| 2 | 02/2025 | Technicians | 6,238 | June 2025 |
| 3 | 03/2025 | Para-Medical Categories | 434 | July 2025 |
| 4 | 04/2025 | Section Controllers | 368 | August 2025 |
| 5 | 05/2025 | Junior Engineers / Depot Material Superintendent | 2,585 | October 2025 |
| 6 | 06/2025 | Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate) | 5,810 | October 2025 |
| 7 | 07/2025 | Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate) | 3,058 | October 2025 |
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.
The total candidates empanelled/recruited in Indian Railways during previous two years and current year (upto 30.09.2025) are as under:
| Total empanelled/recruited | SC | ST | OBC | EWS |
| 93,606 | 14,267 (15.24%) | 7,608 (8.13%) | 25,286 (27.01%) | 9,442 (10.09%) |
In exigencies of work, contractual engagement is resorted to as a stop-gap arrangement till regular incumbents join the posts. Such contractual engagement is purely temporary, time bound and is undertaken only to ensure smooth functioning of Railway operation until posts are filled through regular selection as per extant rule and procedures.
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