Indian Railways is all set to start the world’s biggest recruitment drive with about 1.10 lakh vacancies, instead of the earlier announced 90,000. According to a senior official, Indian Railways has now decided to recruit over 9,000 personnel for Railway Protection Force (RPF) and RPSF (Railway Protection Special Force) and over 10,000 additional jobs in L1 and L2 categories. The Ministry of Railways had earlier announced vacancies for 90,000 posts.
The recruitment will be carried out through the 21 Regional Railway Boards (RRBs) all over the country. The process of filing applications for 90,000 posts has already been completed (for which the last date was 31 March), and computer based aptitude tests will be conducted later this month. Those who qualify in the aptitude tests will have to appear for a physical efficiency test. There will be negative marking for each incorrect answer in the aptitude test.
More than 2.5 crore candidates have made primary registrations with their names and addresses. Railways will start the online application process for the additional 19,000 posts. The official said since the recruitment process is taking place after a gap of four years, many changes proposed in the intervening years have been included this time. “Accordingly, Ministry of Railways has made changes with respect to certain criteria so that more aspiring candidates from all sections of society get opportunity to serve the organisation,” he said.
The posts for which the vacancies have been advertised include assistant loco pilots (train drivers) (26,502 posts), technicians (fitter, crane driver, black smith and carpenter), track maintainer, points man, helper, gateman, porter etc. The vacancies are open to candidates in the age group of 18-28 years, who have passed class X and have an industrial training certificate (ITI) or a diploma or graduation in engineering.
The government has decided to give free sleeper class railway pass facility to SC/ST candidates for the computer based aptitude tests, physical efficiency tests and document verification during the recruitment stages.
Indian Railways is the world’s eighth largest employer, employing 13 lakh people and carries about 2.20 crore passengers daily.