Amid 1.5 Lakhs Railways Vacancies, 13 Accidents Since June

The country has seen at least 13 railway accidents in the past month, including two major ones. The significant issues with all the accidents are safety and signal failures. However, each accident has been treated individually, not shedding light on the Railway Recruitment Board(RRB), which needs to be more knowledgeable about recruitment and pending vacancies in the railways.

Besides recruitments for officer-level jobs, RRB makes hirings via two major exams: NTPC and Group D. These exams account for all safety-related jobs, including track maintainers, signal operators, signal supervisors, loco pilots, etc. According to government data, nearly 3 lakh vacancies lie in the railway department. Out of these, 1.5 lac posts lie vacant in the safety department of Railways.

Since there is no regularity in the release of advertisements for these vacancies or the period within which they are to be completed, the process is often seen to be prolonged for years, leaving the candidates with no choice but to keep applying to other govt exams as well. The last vacancy released for combined NTPC and Group D was in 2019 when the government advertised 1 lac posts. However, the process took a long due to the pandemic and was further delayed. So much so that nearly 75 selected candidates are still waiting to fill the 2019 vacancy; this recruitment also highlighted the unemployment crisis the nation is facing today. For 1 lakh posts, over one crore candidates had applied.

Recently, the government declared 7000 vacancies in the NTPC. Yet again, there is no timeline as to when they are to be completed. As per a notice released by the DOPT(Department of Personnel and Training) under the Home Ministry, any government vacancy that is released should be completed within six months. But the sad state of affairs shows that this rule has consistently been flouted across departments.

The incidents of derailment are not new. Between 2014-24, there have been 678 train accidents leaving 748 people dead and over 2000 injured. Most of these accidents were derailments of coaches. Alone this year, since June 2024, there have been 13 incidents of collision, derailment, and short circuits across the country. It started with the Kanchanjunga Express collision, which claimed the lives of at least ten people and left nearly 60 injured. Post-June, it seems like the accidents have seen no stopping.

Derailments and Railway Accidents Post June

18th July: 8 coaches of the Kamrup Dibrugarh Express derailed in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh. The accident led to the death of 4 innocent citizens and left over 30 injured.

19th July: A goods train was derailed between Valsad and Surat. However, this accident luckily had no casualties.

20th July: 9 wagons of a goods train derailed in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh.

21st July: This day saw two derailments within 12-14 hours. In Rajasthan’s Alwar district, three coaches of a goods train were seen to be derailed. While in Bengal’s Nadia, an empty goods train derailed.

26th July: 2 wagons of a goods train derailed near the Bhubaneswar Railway station.

27th July: 4 coaches of a goods train derailed in Maharashtra’s Palghar.

29th July: An engine and two bogies of Bihar Sampark Kranti were seen to be detached from the rest of the train in Samastipur, Bihar.

30th July: In Jharkhand, Howrah-CST Express met with an accident near Chakradharpur, leaving two people dead and 20 injured.

8th August: Five wagons of a goods train derailed in West Bengal’s Malda district.

The list of these incidents shows that the problem of derailments and accidents is ubiquitous. It is spread across regions and States. Although the Railway Minister did visit the places where significant accidents that claimed lives took place, the Centre has failed to provide a sense of security to the citizens regarding the increasing number of rail accidents.

“Filling of vacancies is the only way to escape from accidents,” says the preparing students.

Ritesh Kumar is a resident of Patna, Bihar. He is 30 years old and has been preparing for government exams for the past seven years. He was also a part of the 2019 vacancies, where he was wait-listed and could not finally make it to the merit list. However, even knowing he had yet to be selected took four years. He only learned that he was rejected in 2023.

The irregularity in the release of vacancies, like 1 lakh vacancies in 2023, while only 7000 in 2024, leads to severe anxiety among students. Tushar Gupta from UP’s Ballia, another aspiring candidate who has been preparing for over seven years, narrates, “Even if these vacancies were to be released yearly, even if the number of vacancies was less, it would be better. The system needs regular recruitments rather than advertising lakh posts and delaying the process for four years.”

“The process is long. It can be done faster, but our departments are too slow. I had to give up eventually. After losing all hope of getting a government job, I pursued law. I am in my first year of law. It is already too late for me, but I have little choice. With the time I devoted to government exams, State and Central, I have only two options now. Either to pursue law or to teach students preparing for these exams,” says Kumar.

He comes from a middle-class family, and with age, his family is also persuading him to get married. However, Kumar thinks differently. He believes that, with no stability, it is not feasible for him to get married. He and the other candidates believe these railway accidents can be stopped if the pending vacancies are cleared.

“Just think about it: had the track maintainers been there, had the signal operators been there, only if the ones who have joined were not made to work over time and longer shifts, would it not be safer to travel via railways?” asks Abhimanyu, another candidate from UP who has been preparing for the past three years.

While the railways have become at least 108% more expensive compared to 2013-14, the government’s expenditure on the safety department has seen a decline in growth rate, especially when it comes to track and signal maintenance.

Another hurdle in selecting these candidates is the change of rules that the government keeps implementing. Back in 2021, after declaring the rules, right before the exams, the government introduced a rule making ITI compulsory for the Group D exam. This sparked protests in parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Students took to the streets, and the protests lasted for several days.

Many students were arrested as well. One of them was Rajan Kumar. His father, Umesh, used to make rounds of the police station and courts seeking help for his kid, who had only gone to check his results. Rajan had to get three stitches on his right hand after the police beat him up along with the other protestors. Today, he has decided to quit preparing for any government recruitment. He works as a technician at a private company that pays him less than even the minimum wage.

The sad state of Indian Railways is not just making citizens insecure. It also leads to a loss of trust among candidates who spend years preparing for government jobs.