Lok Sabha Question No. 1784 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-30
Subject: Working Conditions of Loco Pilots
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Smt. Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Ms Sayani Ghosh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1784 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2025

## WORKING CONDITIONS OF LOCO PILOTS

1784. MS SAYANI GHOSH:

SMT. KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether there are any fixed working hours and leave policy for the loco pilots,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  total  working  hours  in  a  day/a week, any breaks and attending nature's call etc.;

(b) whether it is a fact that the Government has rejected a long-pending demand of loco pilots to provide a break for having meals and attending nature's  call  while  on  duty,  given  the  increasing  major  train  accidents where human error was often attributed as the reason, if so, the details thereof;

(c)  whether the Government is considering mandatory deployment of two loco  pilots  or  assistant  pilots  for  long-distance  or  high-speed  routes  to reduce stress and ensure safety, if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Government is aware of the grievances of loco pilots that they  are  not  given  the  mandated  16  hours  of  headquarters  rest  and  30 hours of periodic rest properly and if so, the details thereof;

(e) the measures taken by the Government to ensure that the loco pilots and assistant loco pilots are provided adequate rests; and

(f)  the  details  regarding  the  number  of  vacancies  of  loco  pilots  and assistant loco pilots in the railways at present and the reasons therefor?

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

## ANSWER ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (f) Loco Pilots are important members of Indian Railway family who play  pivotal  role  for  moving  passenger  and  goods  traffic  in  safe  and efficient manner. Indian Railways is committed to ensure proper working conditions for loco pilots.

Loco Pilots are classified under Continuous Category. Section 132 (2) of Railway  Act,1989,  prescribes  duty  hours  of  54  hours  per  week  on  an average in a two-weekly period of fourteen days for staff working under Continuous category.

Rule 8 of 'Hours of Work and Period of Rest' (HOER),2005 lays down the guidelines  of  duty  hours  of  52  hours  per  week  on  an  average  in  a  twoweekly period of fourteen days for Loco Pilots i.e., duty hours are less than maximum  hours  of  54  for  other  'Continuous'  category  employees  on

Indian Railways.

The Railway Services (Liberalised  Leave) Rules,  1949,  which  govern  the provisions  for  leave  entitlements  of  railway  employees  specify  types  of leave  such  as  Leave  on  Average  Pay  (LAP),  Leave  on  Half  Average Pay(LHAP),  Commuted  Leave,  Extraordinary  Leave  (EOL),  etc.  and  the same are applicable to all Railway Servants including the Loco Pilots.

Loco  Pilots  are  given  Head  Quarter  rest,  Out  Station  Rest  and  Periodic Rest as under:

Head Quarter Rest - Head Quarter rest of 16 hours is given after a running staff member reaches their Head Quarter, and periodic rest of 30 hours or 22 hours (as and when due) is provided as per Section 133 of the Railway Act, 1989. Since periodic rest is also a Head Quarter rest, the requirement for 16 hours Head Quarter rest is fulfilled during periodic rest.

Out  Station  Rest  -  Out  station  rest  is  also  given  when  a  loco  pilot completes his outward journey and it is as under: -

| Duty Hours                 | Rest                                                |
|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| For duty less than 5 hours | Equivalent to the hours of duty performed + 1 hours |
| For duty 5- 8 Hours        | 6 Hours                                             |
| For Duty 8 Hours or more   | 8 Hours                                             |

Periodic Rest- Section 133 of Railway Act,1989 and Rule 12 of HOER, 2005 lays  down  the  guidelines  for  Periodical  rest  of  Running  staff.  These stipulates that running staff be granted, each month, a rest of at least five periods of not less than twenty-two consecutive hours each, or a rest of at least four periods of not less than thirty consecutive hours each including a full night.

The running hours of Loco Pilots are meticulously monitored. Except for exigencies, the running hours are maintained.

For  improvement of working conditions of loco running crew, ergonomic crew friendly design features like better seat and driver desks for better comfort of loco pilots has been provided and all new locos are provided with air-conditioned cabs. Furthermore, running rooms have been equipped  with  air-conditioning  and  are  provided  with  facilities  such  as subsidized meals, foot massagers, and RO water filters for the comfort of the running staff. As regards provision of break for meals and attending to nature's  call,  the  same  is  already  inbuilt  in  the  system  for  Freight  and Passenger Loco pilots.

Presently recruitment of 1.08 lakh vacancies has been taken up on Indian Railways. Details are as under:

During January to December 2024, ten Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 92116  vacancies have been notified for filling up of  posts  of  Assistant  Loco  Pilots  (ALPs),  Technicians,  Sub-Inspectors, Constables  in  Railway  Protection  Force  (RPF),  Junior  Engineers  (JEs)/ Depot Material Superintendent (DMS)/ Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant (CMA), Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate), Non-Technical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial & Isolated Categories and Level-1.

First  stage  Computer  Based  Tests  (CBTs)  for  55197  posts  have  been completed in four phases.  Details are as under-

| Exam                                                  | Candidates   |   Cities |   Languages |
|-------------------------------------------------------|--------------|----------|-------------|
| 1 st Stage CBT for the post of ALP (18,799 vacancies) | 18,40,347    |      156 |          15 |

| CBT for the post of Technician (14,298 vacancies)                            | 26,99,892   |   139 |   15 |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|-------|------|
| 1 st Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA (7,951 vacancies)                  | 11,01,266   |   146 |   15 |
| CBT for the post of RPF-SI (452 vacancies)                                   | 15,35,635   |   143 |   15 |
| CBT for the post of RPF-Constable (4208 vacancies)                           | 45,30,288   |   147 |   15 |
| CBT for Paramedical Categories (1376 vacancies)                              | 7,08,321    |   143 |   15 |
| 1 st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Category (Graduate)(8113 vacancies) | 58,41,774   |   141 |   15 |

Results of CBTs for the posts of ALP (1st stage), RPF-SI and Constable, JE/DMS/CMA  (1st  Stage)  and  Technicians  have  already  been  published. 2nd  stage  CBTs  for  the  posts  of  ALP  and  JE/DMS/CMA  have  also  been completed.  Details are as under: -

| Exam                                                        | Candidates   |   Cities |   Languages |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|----------|-------------|
| 2 nd Stage CBT for the post of ALP (18,799 vacancies)       | 2,66,363     |      112 |          15 |
| 2 nd Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA (7,951 vacancies) | 1,17,339     |      118 |          15 |

Results  for  2nd  stage  CBTs  of  ALP  &  JE/DMS/CMA  have  also  been published.

Out of 14,298 vacancies of Technicians notified in 2024, panels of more than 9,000 selected candidates have already been provided by the RRBs.

In  addition,  as  per  Annual  Calendar  for  the  year  2025,  following  two Centralized Employment Notifications have also been issued: -

- a. Centralized  Employment  Notification  (CEN)  No.  01/2025,  for  9,970 vacancies of ALPs has also been notified in March 2025.
- b. Centralized  Employment  Notification  (CEN)  No.  02/2025,  for  6,238 vacancies of Technician has been notified in June 2025.

Occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process on Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation. Adequate  and  suitable  manpower  is  provided  to  cater  to  the regular operations, changes in technology, mechanizations and innovative practices. The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements.

The RRB examinations are quite technical in nature entailing large scale mobilization  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.

Recruitment done in Indian Railways during 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 vis-àvis during 2014-2015 to 2024-2025 is given as under: -

| Period                 | Recruitments   |
|------------------------|----------------|
| 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 | 4.11 lakhs     |
| 2014-2015 to 2024-2025 | 5.08 lakhs     |

Further, as a system improvement, the Ministry of Railways has introduced a  system  of  publishing  annual  calendar  from  2024  for  recruitment  to various categories of Group 'C' posts. The introduction of annual calendar will benefit the aspirants in the following manner:

-  More opportunities for candidates;
-  Opportunities to those becoming eligible every year;
-  Certainty of exams;
-  Faster Recruitment process, Training and Appointments.

*****