To address a significant staff shortage across various roles, North Eastern Railway will re-engage retired employees for 442 posts on a contract basis. The General Manager has approved a proposal from the Varanasi division, following a directive from the Railway Board, to fill vacancies for positions including Train Manager (Guard), Pointsman, Engineer and Clerk.
The re-engagement process, confirmed in a letter dated October 13, 2025, from Deputy Chief Personnel Officer VK Dwivedi, has received financial clearance and is set to begin soon for positions across the Operating, Engineering, Mechanical, Medical, and Commercial departments. Re-engaged personnel will receive an honorarium equivalent to half of their basic salary at retirement, plus a transport allowance.
This initiative aims to immediately tackle the severe shortage, particularly in the Varanasi and Lucknow divisions. The All India Guard Council reports that the Varanasi division has 96 vacant guard posts (including 72 for Goods Guards), while the Lucknow division has 72 vacancies. The situation has occasionally forced trains to operate without guards.
While this re-engagement plan is underway, the Railway Board is also separately proceeding with new recruitment. It has approved a Centralised Employment Notification to fill 8,875 Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) posts, including 5,817 at the graduate level and 3,058 at the undergraduate level. Additionally, approval has been granted to fill 2,570 Junior Engineer positions.
Breakdown Of Re-engagement Vacancies
The 442 re-engagement positions are distributed across several departments as follows:
Operating Department (Total: 320)
- Senior Passenger Train Manager: 35
- Senior Goods Train Manager: 45
- Goods Train Manager: 114
- Pointsman B: 126
Electrical Department (Total: 34)
- JE (TRD): 3
- Tower Wagon Driver: 1
- OS (TRD): 1
- Assistant Khalasi (TRD): 29
Commercial Department (Total: 39)
- Chief Commercial cum Ticket Supervisor: 11
- Senior Commercial cum Ticket Clerk: 28
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Mechanical Department (Total: 32)
- SSE (Electric): 1
- Senior Technician (C&W): 4
- Technician I (C&W): 23
- Technician III (C&W): 4
Engineering Department (Total: 13)
- JE (P.Way): 8
- SSE (Works): 3
- JE-DRG: 2
Medical Department (Total: 4)
- Lab Superintendent: 2
- Dresser II: 1
- Dresser III: 1