The Management Cadre of the Indian Railway consists of Class I and Class II Gazetted Officers. Direct recruitment to the class I Railway Services is name through the Union Public Service Commission on the basis of the annual competitive examination. Recruitment to the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) and the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) is done on the result of the Civil Service Examination (earlier known as Indian Administrative Service, etc., Examination) and that to the Indian Railway Services of Engineers (IRSE), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Railway Service of Single Engineers (IRSSE) and Indian Railway Service Stores (IRSS) is name on the basis of the combined Engineering Service of Mechanical Engineers, there is a dual method. Approximately, 50 percent of the candidates are recruited through the combined Engineering Services Examination. The remaining 50 percent are recruited as the special class Railway Apprentices for which the U.P.S.C. conducts a separate competitive examination every year.
So far as the recruitment of Class II services is concerned the entire Class II service is manned by personnel promoted from subordinate ranks from class III by a process of selection on the basis of merit.
Class III service is composed of literate class of employees both technical and non-technical. These cover a large number of categories such as clerks. Assistant Station Masters, Ticket Collectors, Guards, Drivers, Workshop Chargemen, Foremen, etc. Initial recruitment to technical class III services to the engineering, signaling and tele-communication engineering, and electrical departments are of two types, namely, one to the class of skilled tradesmen and the class of initial Supervisors, Chargemen, Assistant Inspectors of Ways and Works, Assistant Signaling and Telecommunication Inspector etc. The former are drawn from trade apprentices and the latter are recruited from candidates having diploma qualification in the upper branch of engineering specially.
Recruitment of the non-technical categories in class III services, i.e., Clerks, Assistant Station Master, Ticket Collectors, Train Clerks, etc., is done through direct recruitment to these categories by a competitive examination conducted by the Railway Recruitment Boards. These Boards are located at Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Chandigarh, Jammu, Gorakhpur, Patna, Guwahati, Calcutta, Bhubaneswar, Chennai (Madras), Trivandrum, Bangalore, Secunderabad, Mumbai, Bhopal, Malda, Ranchi, etc. The Boards advertise the vacancies through newspapers and the Employment News and conduct both written examinations and interviews. Recruitment is made in the lowest grades to these categories and prescribed qualification is generally matriculation. For some posts like Commercial Apprentice, Traffic Apprentice, Asstt. Station Master, Clerk Grade I, Guards, etc., prescribed qualification is a degree from a recognised university.
CLERICAL CADRE EXAM
The various recruitment Boards conduct competitive examinations for the recruitment to the following posts:
(i) Commercial Clerks
(ii) Signalers
(iii) Ticket Collectors
(iv) Train Clerks
(v) Office Clerks
(vi) Accounts Clerks
(vii) Probationary Assistant Station Master
Initial Pay: Rs.4000 in the scales of Rs.3200-4900 and Rs.3050-4590. In addition, House Rent Allowance and City Compensatory.
Minimum Qualification: Matriculation or equivalent with at least 50% marks in the aggregate. For Probationary Assistant Master, the minimum qualification is a Bachelor’s Degree.
Age: 18 to 30 years.
Scheme of Examination for Non-Technical Categories:
The written test will consist of: -
(i) General English (and/or Hindi)
(ii) Mathematics
(iii) General Knowledge
(iv) General Intelligence
The test will be mainly of objective Type Candidates are expected to possess a broad Knowledge of current events and matters of general interest Particularly relating to India, including Indian Railways.
Depending upon the number of vacancies, candidates who score high marks upto the required marks are called for interview Final selection is based on the total marks obtained in the written examination and interview.
Scheme of Examination for Technical Categories:
All candidates whose applications are received in time and considered eligible will be called for written test of objective type in conformity with educational standards and technical qualifications Prescribed for the Post, including English and or Hindi, Mathematics, General Knowledge and General intelligence (as in the case of Non -Technical categories) The questions in Technical Ability are designed to check the candidate’s technical ability from various Engineering aspects. Civil Mechanical Electrical. Etc.
