New Delhi, July 24 : As many as 5.02 lakh candidates have been recruited in Indian Railways during the last 10 years from 2014 to 2024 compared to 4.11 lakh recruited in the decade from 2004 to 2014, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that after easing of restrictions imposed on account of Covid-19, two major examinations involving more than 2.37 crore candidates have been conducted successfully.

A computer-based test (CBT) for more than 1.26 crore candidates was conducted in 7 phases from December 28, 2020, to July 31, 2021, in 133 shifts in 68 days across 211 cities and 726 centres. Similarly, a CBT was conducted for more than 1.1 crore candidates in 5 phases from August 17, 2022, to Nov 11, 2022, in 99 shifts in 33 days across 191 cities and 551 centres. Based on these exams, 1,30,581 candidates have been recruited by Indian Railways, the minister said.

The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) examinations are quite technical in nature entailing large-scale mobilisation of men and resources and training of manpower. Railway overcame all these challenges and successfully conducted the recruitment in a transparent manner following all laid down guidelines. No instance of paper leakage or similar malpractice has occurred during the entire process.

Further, as a system improvement, the Ministry of Railways has introduced a system of publishing an annual calendar this year for recruitment to various categories of Group 'C' posts.

Accordingly, four Centralised Employment Notifications (CENs) for 32,603 vacancies have been notified from January to March 2024 for filling up of posts of Assistant Loco Pilots, Technicians, Sub-Inspectors & Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF), the minister said.

The introduction of the annual calendar will benefit the aspirants in providing more opportunities for candidates, certainty of exams and faster recruitment process, training and appointments, he added.

The minister also said that the government is taking steps for the improvement of working conditions for loco running crew and the safety of train operations.

/IANS