Over 1.2 Lakh Railway Vacancies Under Recruitment for 2024–25 Says Government Exam Stages Progressing Smoothly

The Ministry of Railways has officially confirmed that the recruitment process for over 1.20 lakh vacancies notified across 2024 and 2025 is currently underway, making it one of the largest hiring drives undertaken by Indian Railways in recent years. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared the progress update during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

According to the Minister’s written statement, a total of 1,20,579 posts are in various stages of recruitment, while more than 5.08 lakh jobs have been provided by the Railways in the last 11 years — a significant rise compared to 4.11 lakh appointments between 2004 and 2014.

Indian Railways speeds up its massive hiring drive — over 1.2 lakh vacancies across 2024 and 2025 under recruitment, with key CBT, CBAT and PET exam phases successfully completed across multiple cities.

Recruitment is Continuous due to Scale and Technology Upgrades

The Ministry highlighted that recruitment in the Railways operates as a continuous and large-scale exercise, considering the network’s:

• Nationwide footprint

• High operational demands

• Technological and mechanisation shifts

• Evolving safety requirements

Vacancies are filled based on requests from individual departments to ensure manpower availability for mission-critical roles.

Breakdown of 2024 Recruitment

In 2024 alone, Indian Railways released 10 Centralised Employment Notifications (CENs) covering more than 92,000 posts. Categories included:

• Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs)

• Technicians

• RPF Sub-Inspectors and Constables

• Junior Engineers

• Depot Material Superintendents

• Chemical & Metallurgical Assistants

• Paramedical Posts

• NTPC (Graduate & Undergraduate)

• Level-1 roles such as Track Maintainers and Pointsmen

Multiple exam phases have already been executed successfully:

• First-stage CBT for 59,678 posts held nationwide across multilingual centres

• Second-stage CBTs completed for ALP, JE/DMS/CMA, and NTPC (Graduate) categories

• CBAT for ALP category completed

Recruitment for Level-1 posts (32,000+ vacancies) commenced in November 2025 across 140 cities, and Physical Efficiency Tests for 4,208 RPF Constable posts began earlier that month.

So far, final panels have been drawn for 23,000+ candidates, including Technicians, JEs, Paramedical staff, RPF SIs, and ALPs — many of whom will serve in critical safety departments.

Recruitment Plans for 2025

For 2025, the Railways has already issued seven recruitment notifications covering 28,463 posts across:

• ALPs & Technicians

• Section Controllers

• Paramedical Categories

• Junior Engineers

• NTPC (Graduate & Undergraduate roles)

The Ministry assured that recruitment is moving at a steady and transparent pace, with zero reported cases of paper leaks or malpractice, despite the nationwide scale of examinations.

Annual Recruitment Calendar Introduced for Aspirants

Beginning 2024, Indian Railways rolled out a fixed annual recruitment calendar, offering:

• Better timeline clarity for candidates

• Transparency on upcoming exams

• Predictability of training and appointment schedules

This initiative aims to reduce uncertainty, improve planning for aspirants, and speed up the onboarding process.

Clarification on Contract-Based Appointments

The Ministry reiterated that contractual appointees engaged for urgent operational requirements are purely temporary and do not qualify for regularisation or long-term service benefits. These positions are discontinued once permanent recruits take charge.