Lok Sabha Question No. 1760 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-10
Subject: Operating Ratio of Indian Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. D. Purandeswari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1760

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.12.2025

## OPERATING RATIO OF INDIAN RAILWAYS

1760. DR. D. PURANDESWARI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the operating ratio of Indian Railways during the last three  financial  years  and  the  steps  being  taken  to  improve financial sustainability;
- (b) the total number of vacant posts in Railways as of date, categorywise (Group A, B, C, D) and the number of posts filled during the last three years;
- (c) the  details  of  progress  made  towards  achieving  100  per  cent electrification of the broad-gauge network, zone-wise;
- (d) the details of the strategy to source renewable energy for traction and  non-traction  purposes  to  achieve  the  'Net  Zero  Carbon Emitter' target by 2030; and
- (e) the  status  of  railway  land  monetisation  and  the  total  revenue generated from it during the last three years?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) Operating Ratio of Indian Railways during the last three financial years is given below:

| Financial year   | 2022-23   | 2023-24   | 2024-25   |
|------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Operating Ratio  | 98.10%    | 98.43%    | 98.22%    |

Indian Railways has taken several measures during the last few years to  enhance  the  freight  loading  and  revenue  and  hence  to  improve operating ratio. These measures include:

- To  increase  the  network  capacity,  rail  network  expansion  has been  taken  up  in  a  big  way by construction of new lines, multi tracking of existing lines and gauge conversion of  existing lines. The details of new tracks laid during the 10 years are as under:

| Period   | New Tracks Commissioned   |
|----------|---------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 km                  |
| 2014-25  | 34,428 km                 |

Further as  on 01.04.25,  there  are  431  (154  New  Line,  33 Guage  Conversion  and  244  Doubling)  projects  are  sanctioned. The summary of which is as under:

| Category                 |   No. of Projects | Total Length (km)   | Length completed till Mar'25 (Km)   | Balance length (Km)   | Cost (Cr.)   |
|--------------------------|-------------------|---------------------|-------------------------------------|-----------------------|--------------|
| New lines                |               154 | 16,142              | 3,036                               | 13,105                | 3,77,389     |
| Gauge conversion         |                33 | 4,180               | 2,997                               | 1,183                 | 43,820       |
| Doubling/ Multi tracking |               244 | 15,644              | 6,736                               | 8,909                 | 2,53,711     |
| Total                    |               431 | 35,966              | 12,769                              | 23,197                | 6,74,920     |

- Removing bottlenecks in operations by yard remodeling, construction of bypass/chord lines, rail flyovers etc.
- The  construction  of  Eastern  Dedicated  Freight  Corridor  (EDFC) from  Ludhiana  to  Sonnagar  (1337  Km)  and  Western  Dedicated Freight  Corridor  (WDFC)  from  Jawaharlal  Nehru  Port  Terminal

(JNPT)  to  Dadri  (1506  Km)  has  been  taken  up.  Out  of  total 2843 kms, 2741 route kms (96.4%) has been commissioned and operational.

- Indian Railways has taken up electrification of Railway lines in a mission mode. So far,  about 99.1% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified. A comparison of electrification before and after 2014 is as follows:
- Procurement  of  Wagons  and  Locomotives:  To  increase  freight carrying  capacity,  large  numbers  of  IR  wagons  have been procured and locomotives have  been manufactured.  During 2014 to 2025, about 2 lakh wagons have been procured and more than 10,000  locomotives  have  been  added  for  increasing  freight loading and mobility.
- Industry participation in investment in General Purpose Wagons, Special  Purpose/High-  Capacity  wagons  and  Automobile  carrier wagons  for  cement,  oil,  steel,  fly-ash,  automobile  etc.  So  far, around  240  rakes  of  special  purpose  wagons,  374  rakes  of general-purpose,  wagons  and  48  rakes  of  automobile  wagons have been inducted.
- Under the 'Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)' policy so  far,  118  new  GCTs  have been commissioned, with an estimated  traffic  capacity  of  192  million  tonnes  per  annum (MTPA).  In addition, for  improvement  of  freight  and  parcel terminals from the financial year 2023-24 onwards, an amount of ₹14,500 crore has been allocated.

| Period      | Route Kilometre   |
|-------------|-------------------|
| Before 2014 | 21,801            |
| 2014-25     | 46,900            |

- A  'Bulk  Cement  Terminal  Policy'  for  setting  up  terminals  on Railway  land  has  been  launched  recently  as  part  of  Railway reforms for facilitating Bulk Cement transportation.
- •
- Ensuring increased availability of rakes/wagons against demand.
- Increasing the loadability for carrying additional traffic  per wagon.  Length  of  freight  trains has  also  been  increased  to increase throughput per train.
- Use  of  Information  Technology  in  freight  operations  to  improve monitoring and utilization  of assets.
- •
- Induction of higher horsepower locomotives.
- Improvement in maintenance practices of wagons and locomotives resulting in increased availability of loco and rolling
- stock for traffic use.
- Improvement  in  track  and  signaling  standards  to  carry  higher volume of traffic.
- Training  of  staff  and  officers  to  adopt  the  new  technology  and management practices.

Because of the above measures, the freight loading has increased from 1,233 MT in 2020-21 to 1617 MT in 2024-25.

- (b)  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.  The  vacancies  are  filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements.

Presently  recruitment of 1,20,579 vacancies has been taken up on Indian Railways as per annual calendar 2024 and 2025.

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, SubInspectors,  Constables  in  Railway  Protection  Force  (RPF),  Junior Engineers  (JEs)/  Depot  Material  Superintendent  (DMS)/  Chemical  & Metallurgical Assistant (CMA), Paramedical Categories, NonTechnical  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                                         | 7,08,321     |      143 |          15 |

| Categories (1,376 vacancies)                                                         |           |     |    |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----|----|
| 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 Non-Technical 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 (18,799 vacancies) | 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  including  the  posts  of Technicians, Junior Engineers, Paramedical Categories, SubInspectors (RPF) and Assistant Loco Pilots have been sent to indenting Railways.  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    | 01/20 25  | Assistant Loco Pilots | 9,970                       | March 2025              |
| 2    | 02/20     | Technicians           | 6,238                       | June 2025               |
|      | 25        |                       |                             |                         |
| 3    | 03/20     | Para-medical          | 434                         | July 2025               |

|    | 25       |                                                  |       |              |
|----|----------|--------------------------------------------------|-------|--------------|
|  4 | 04/20 25 | Section Controllers                              | 368   | August 2025  |
|  5 | 05/20 25 | Junior Engineers / Depot Material Superintendent | 2,585 | October 2025 |
|  6 | 06/20 25 | NTPC (Graduate)                                  | 5,810 | October 2025 |
|  7 | 07/20 25 | 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.

In  the  Gazetted  cadre,  recruitments  are  made  annually  through UPSC  for the ministry as a whole. Further, as compared  to recruitment  of  4,988  number  of  officers  during  2004-2013,  7297 number  of  officers  have  been  recruited  in  the  Organised  Services during  2014-2024.  In  addition,  indent  for  1107  officers  has  been placed so far on UPSC for the year 2025 and 2026.

- (c)  Electrification  of  railway  network  on  Indian  Railways  has  been taken up in mission mode. So far, about 99.2% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been  electrified. The electrification in remaining network has been taken up. Electrification carried out during 201425 and before 2014 is as under:

| Period                | Route Kilometer   |
|-----------------------|-------------------|
| Before 2014 (about 60 |                   |
| years)                | 21,801            |
| 2014-25               | 46,900            |

## Zone wise status of electrification is as under:

|   SN | ZONE   | % Electrified   |
|------|--------|-----------------|
|    1 | CR     | 100%            |
|    2 | ECOR   | 100%            |
|    3 | ECR    | 100%            |
|    4 | ER     | 100%            |
|    5 | KRCL   | 100%            |

|   6 | Metro   | 100%   |
|-----|---------|--------|
|   7 | NCR     | 100%   |
|   8 | NER     | 100%   |
|   9 | NR      | 100%   |
|  10 | SCR     | 100%   |
|  11 | SECR    | 100%   |
|  12 | SER     | 100%   |
|  13 | WCR     | 100%   |
|  14 | WR      | 100%   |
|  15 | NWR     | 98%    |
|  16 | SR      | 98%    |
|  17 | SWR     | 95%    |
|  18 | NFR     | 94%    |

- (d)      As  part  of  its  strategy  to  achieve  the  target  of  Net  Zero  Carbon Emitter  by  2030,  Indian  Railways  has  planned  to  progressively meets  its  electric  power  requirement  through  renewable  energy sources  with  combination  of  solar,  wind  and  other  renewable sources  based  on  strategic  power  procurement  planning,  thereby reducing its carbon emissions.

As  of  October  2025,  about  888  Mega  Watt  (MW)  of  solar  plants (both  on  rooftops  and  on  land)  and  about  103  MW  of  wind  power plants  have  been  commissioned.  Further,  100  MW  of  renewable power under Round the Clock (RTC) mode tied up from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has also started flowing.

In addition to this, 1500 MW renewable capacity under RTC mode has been tied up. This is hybrid solution consisting of solar, wind and storage component.

- (e)      Vacant  railway  land  not  required  by  Railway  for  its  immediate operational needs is entrusted to Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) for commercial development. Approximately 1308 hectares of  land  has  been  entrusted  to  RLDA  for  commercial  monetisation. The revenue generated by the Indian Railways from the use of land and  spaces  for  commercial  purposes  during  last  three  years  has been Rs 8,209 cr.

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