In the colonial era, a job in the British-operated Railways was a status symbol for Indians. The glamour of Railway jobs might have faded in the last seven decades, but the appeal of a ‘permanent’ job continues to attract lakhs of applicants from across the country. Those keen on a direct employment in the Railways must appear for the various exams – either those conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) or by Railway Recruitment Board (RRB).

If a candidate wants to join the top officers’ cadre, he or she can take the various exams conducted by the UPSC like the railway traffic service, railway accounts service and the railway personnel service or the engineering services examination for the civil, mechanical, electrical, stores or signalling stream. Several hundred posts are on offer every year.

One can also appear for the exams conducted by the RRB. The board conducts exams for various skilled jobs, including technical and non-technical positions.

In fact, the Railways has in the last one year conducted one of the largest online exams for close to 1 lakh posts. Of these, 63,000 recruitments were for non-technical posts and the remaining for technical posts. The Railways received 47 lakh applications for technical posts, and 1.9 crore applications for the non-technical posts. In case one wishes to drive a train, one can apply to be a locomotive driver, for which the candidate starts his career as an assistant loco pilot.

The competition for posts across the board is tough and several applicants take the exams with the hope to get a permanent job.

The Railway Recruitment Board also inducts apprentices, who get practical training by working as welders, carpenters, electricians in workshops and factories of various railway zones.

An apprentice has a greater chance to be absorbed in the Railways’ skillset pool by taking the exam compared to those who have no previous exposure to such opportunities. As the Railways moves towards privatisation, candidates can also get indirectly employed in one of the agencies to which the jobs are outsourced such as catering firms, manpower hiring agencies for keeping stations and trains clean, agencies for constructing rail tracks, among others. Candidates can also work in a private company involved in making trains.

Another way to get into the Railways is by doing courses at the Vadodara-located National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI), housed in the National Academy of Indian Railways, the erstwhile Railway Staff College (RSC).

This is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project and a lot of brainstorming and detailed planning is underway. Originally the institute was conceived with the idea that students passing from here would find jobs in the Railways, but till now the exact job prospects and career pathways for students who pass out of the NRTI is not clear.