Railway exam: World's largest online recruitment drive sees 74% attendance

The world's largest online recruitment drive has kicked off today. During the first session, it saw the highest ever attendance of 73.8 per cent in the history of railway exams.

"Attendance, in the very first shift, is highly impressive- 73.8 per cent, a record for all Railway Recruitment Board exams so far- both for offline based exams as well as pan India computer-based tests since 2015," said a railway official.

Out of total 1,61,332 candidates scheduled in first shift in 416 centres in 160 cities across the country, about 1,19,110 candidates attended the exams. The exams will extend for 10 days starting from August 9 to 31, where candidates have been given various time slots.

About 4.7 million people had applied for about 60,000 posts that railways had come out with. Around 150,000 computers will be used for the exams that will be conducted in 15 languages. To avoid any fraudulent activities railways have installed close circuit cameras and mobile jammers in exam centres. Earlier, about 26,502 vacancies were announced for the post of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALP) and technicians, for which tests are being conducted now. Meanwhile, the notification for the dates of exams for Group D exams is yet to be announced, where Railways will be offering 62,907 jobs.

Indian Railways may soon shorten recruitment process from 2 yrs to 6 months

The nearly two-year-long recruitment process for Railway jobs may soon be over in just six months, if things go according to plan.

Hit by a severe staff crunch, Railways is mulling shortening the process by introducing online tests among other steps.

In a meeting of general managers with Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani soon after the derailment of the Vasco-Da-Gama-Patna Express on November 24, the zonal heads raised the issue of filling up of vacant posts in the Railways, according to the minutes of the meeting available with PTI.

"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, etc, the process should be speeded up," general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway Chahatey Ram suggested in the meeting in the presence of 17 GMs.

In response, Lohani said that the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) should review the process "with a target to complete it within six months".

The board has instructed its departments to submit their proposals on the issue by December 20.

As of December 2016, Railways has a staff strength of more than 1.3 million, while it has 225,823 vacancies in Group 'C' and Group 'D' categories.

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