Indian Railways recruitment process now to be quicker

Online tests will be rolled out so that staff can be hired in six months, instead of two years as was the practice earlier

Indian Railways is going to shorten its recruitment process from two years to six months now. Hit by the dearth of resources, it is planning to cut short the hiring procedure, so that it has adequate staff.

It is planning to roll out online tests now, so that process could be speeded up.

Currently, the two-year long recruitment process has several lacunae. During these two years many applicants get alternative jobs. Not all the selected candidates join, and the positions lie vacant.

The recent spate of train accidents has pushed the railway officials to fill up the vacant positions so that the safety of passengers can be ensured.

As of December 2016, the total staff count in the railways was over 1.3 million. It has 2,25,823 vacant positions in Group ‘C’ and Group ‘D’ categories.

As per the data available with the Railways, in safety categories there are 1,22,911 vacant positions and 17,664 in loco running staff. These vacant positions range from drivers, guards, gangmen to other technical staff.

Some officials suggest that zonal railways should be allowed to present vacancy notices directly to the RRB instead of going to the Railway Board. This will reduce the time taken to hire staff.

A senior railway official suggested in the meeting in the presence of 17 other GMs that the process of recruitment takes too long, taking almost two years since submission of application. Many candidates get alternative jobs, leading to poor materialisation of indents (vacancy notice). With online tests the process should become quicker.