Railway Ministry approves recruitment process for 4,098 technical posts to strengthen safety

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) The Railway Ministry has approved the recruitment of 4,098 technical personnel across various railway zones in the country to strengthen safety and improve operational efficiency. Officials said the ministry has decided to fill vacancies across 35 technical categories, many of which are critical to operational safety, including junior engineers, depot material superintendents and chemical and metallurgical assistants. A recent ministry circular addressed to the general managers of all railway zones stated that it had assessed the vacancy positions highlighted by the zones through the internal Human Resource Management System (HRMS) and based on that assessment, directed the initiation of the recruitment process. The highest number of vacancies identified by the zones is 845 in the Permanent Way category, followed by 470 in Works and 450 in Carriage and Wagon, among others. The ministry has fixed a timeline in consultation with the chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Bengaluru, according to which the nodal RRBs will issue the Centralised Employment Notification (CEN) from July 21, 2026, onwards. The zonal railways have also been directed to complete all internal processes, including ensuring compliance with the prescribed reservation norms for SC, ST, OBC and EWS categories while uploading the final vacancy list to the internal system. Earlier, following the ministry's approval, the notification for the recruitment of 6,565 technicians had already been issued. It included 323 posts for signal technician grade I and 6,242 posts for technician grade III. Various railway unions have expressed satisfaction with the ministry's decision to fill crucial safety-category posts, saying it will improve operational efficiency and reduce the workload on the existing workforce. Shiv Gopal Mishra, general secretary of the All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF), said, "The move to fill vacant positions in safety-category posts is much needed to ensure the safety of millions of passengers. I appreciate the Railway Ministry's decision and expect that it will continue to focus on operational safety." Claiming that the recruitment process was initiated after an all-India protest by Signal and Telecom employees, Alok Chandra Prakash, general secretary of the Indian Railway S&T Maintainers Union, said, "I am happy that the Railway Ministry took note of our protest and decided to fill the vacant positions in various safety-category posts that have remained vacant for a long time." The ministry's circular has directed the recruitment of 197 junior engineer (signal) posts and 79 junior engineer (telecommunication) posts. "I hope that the ministry will not only fill all the vacant safety-category posts in a phased manner but also create new posts to meet the requirements arising from the large-scale expansion of the railway network and its infrastructure," Prakash said. PTI JP PRK