Lok Sabha Question No. 649 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-03
Subject: Overcrowding in Kolkata Metro
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Shatrughan Prasad Sinha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 649

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025

## OVERCROWDING IN KOLKATA METRO

## 649. SHRI SHATRUGHAN PRASAD SINHA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that there has been a steady increase in cases of overcrowding in Kolkata Metro and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  intends  to  increase  the  fleet  of  metros  in Kolkata and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether it is a fact that Kolkata Metro is understaffed and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d)  whether  the  Government  intends  to  employ  more  people  in  Kolkata Metro and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reason therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (d):  Metro  project  in  Kolkata  started  in  1972.  The  details  of  the  Metro commissioned since then are as under:

| Period                  | Metro Commissioned   |
|-------------------------|----------------------|
| 1972 to 2014 (42 years) | 28 km                |
| 2014 to 2025 (11 years) | 45 km                |

Presently, four metro corridors of total 52 km are under construction in  and  around  Kolkata  out  of  which  20  Km  is  held  up  due  to  land acquisition and utility shifting issues pertaining to State Government. The status of these corridors is as given below:

| Name of Corridor & Length (km)    | Work Completed (km)                                                                                                                                 | Balance Length (km)                                                                                                                                 | Status                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Joka - Esplanade (14 km)          | 7.74 km (Joka- Majerhat)                                                                                                                            | 6.26 km (Majerhat - Esplanade)                                                                                                                      | Progress of Work was affected due to slow land acquisition and utility diversion issues by state authorities.                                                                              |
| New Garia-Dum Dum Airport (32 km) | 9.8 km (New Garia- Belaghata)                                                                                                                       | 22.2 km (Belaghata- Dum Dum Airport)                                                                                                                | Work progress is slow due to delay in traffic diversion permission from state authorities.                                                                                                 |
| Noapara - Barasat (18 km)         | 6.77 km (Noapara- Jai Hind Airport)                                                                                                                 | 11.36 km (Jai Hind Airport - Barasat)                                                                                                               | Work from Jai Hind Airport to Michael Nagar is in progress. Work from New Barrackpore to Barasat (7.5 Km) is held up due to land acquisition and encroachment issues by State authorities. |
| Baranagar- Barrackpore (12.5 km)  | Work is held up due to pending utility (water pipeline of Kolkata Municipal Corporation) shifting in the alignment by state government authorities. | Work is held up due to pending utility (water pipeline of Kolkata Municipal Corporation) shifting in the alignment by state government authorities. | Work is held up due to pending utility (water pipeline of Kolkata Municipal Corporation) shifting in the alignment by state government authorities.                                        |

Regarding, New Garia-Dum Dum Airport project (32 km), New GariaBelaghata (9.8 km) has been completed. The balance work from Belaghata-Dum Dum Airport(22.2 km) has been taken up. However, NOC from  Kolkata  police  is  required  for  temporary  road  traffic  diversion  at Chingrighata  junction  for  launching  of  viaduct  which  is  pending  (since Feb,  2025)  inspite  of  repeated  chasing  with  State  Government.  The matter is still unresolved.

Regarding  ridership  Kolkata  metro,  after  COVID,  there  has  been  a steady increase in the number of passengers travelling on Kolkata Metro from 16.89 cr passengers in 2022-23 to 20.81 cr passenger in 2024-25.To match  the  growing  demand,  the  rakes  deployed  in  Kolkata  Metro  have also been increased from 44 in 2022-23 to 55 at present.

Fleet of Metro rakes is increased based on increase in network and traffic requirements which is a continuous and ongoing process.

## Recruitment in Indian Railways

Occurrence and filling up of vacancies are continuous processes in 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, mechanisations and innovative practices including Kolkata Metro. The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements.

As  per  annual  calendar  2024  and  2025,  recruitment  of  1,20,579 vacancies has been taken up on Indian Railways including Kolkata metro.

During  January  to  December  2024,  ten  Centralized  Employment Notifications  (CENs)  for  92,116  vacancies  were  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 categories such as Assistants, Track Maintainers and Pointsman.

## First  stage/Single  stage  Computer  Based  Tests  (CBTs)  for  59,678 posts has been completed.  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                                                       | 7,08,321     |      143 |          15 |
| 1 st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Category (Graduate) (8,113 vacancies)       | 58,41,774    |      141 |          15 |
| 1 st Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Category (Under Graduate) (3,445 vacancies) | 63,27,473    |      157 |          15 |
| CBT for Ministerial & Isolated categories (1,036 vacancies)                          | 4,46,013     |      139 |          15 |

2nd  stage  CBTs  for  the  posts  of  ALP,  JE/DMS/CMA  and  NonTechnical  Popular  Categories  (Graduate) has  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 |
| 2 nd Stage CBT for Non-Technical Popular Category (Graduate) (8,113 vacancies) | 1,21,931     |      129 |          15 |

Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for the post of ALP has also been completed. Details are as under:-

| Exam                     | Candidates   |   Cities |   Languages |
|--------------------------|--------------|----------|-------------|
| CBAT for the post of ALP | 1,32,044     |       84 |           2 |

CBT  for  32,438  vacancies  for  level  -1  categories  has  commenced from  27.11.2025  in  140  cities  in  15  languages.  Physical  efficiency  Test (PET)  for  4,208  vacancies  of  Constable  (RPF)  has  commenced  from 13.11.2025.

Panels for more than 23,000 candidates for various posts including the posts of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, SubInspectors (RPF) and Assistant Loco Pilots have been finalised.  Majority of them are in safety categories.

In  addition,  as  per  Annual  Calendar  for  the  year  2025,  seven Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 28,463 vacancies have also been issued:

|   SN | CEN No.   | Post Name                                        | No. of Vacancies notified   | Month of Notification   |
|------|-----------|--------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|-------------------------|
|    1 | 01/2025   | Assistant Loco Pilots                            | 9,970                       | March 2025              |
|    2 | 02/2025   | Technicians                                      | 6,238                       | June 2025               |
|    3 | 03/2025   | Para-medical                                     | 434                         | July 2025               |
|    4 | 04/2025   | Section Controllers                              | 368                         | August 2025             |
|    5 | 05/2025   | Junior Engineers / Depot Material Superintendent | 2,585                       | October 2025            |
|    6 | 06/2025   | NTPC (Graduate)                                  | 5,810                       | October 2025            |
|    7 | 07/2025   | NTPC (Under- Graduate)                           | 3,058                       | October 2025            |

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-à-vis 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 is benefitting 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.

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