Indian Railway (Selection to Senior Posts) Rules, 2025 – Recruitment to the posts of Chairman & CEO, Members, other Level-17 posts, ex-cadre Level-16 posts and Service-specific Level-16 posts: Railway Board Notification dated 07.11.2025
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(Railway Board)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 7th November, 2025.
‘F. No. 2025/CRB&CEO-CC/04/11.—In exercise of the powers conferred by section 2A of the Railways Act, 1989, as amended from time to time, and in supersession of Ministry of Railways Resolutions dated 27.05.2022 and 10.12.2019, the Central Government here by makes the following rules, namely :
1. Short title, commencement and application – (1) These rules may be called the Indian Railway (Selection to Senior Posts) Rules, 2025.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
(3) These rules shall apply to the posts of Chairman & CEO, Members, other Level-17 posts, ex-cadre Level-16 posts and Service-specific Level-16 posts.
2. Definitions – In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,
a) “Act” means the Railways Act, 1989, as amended from time to time;
b) “Board” means the Railway Board constituted under corresponding provisions of the Railways Act,1989 as amended from time to time;
c) “Level 16” means the HAG+ Pay Level (L 16) as specified in the Pay Matrix under the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 or any subsequent revision;
d) “Level 17” means the Apex Pay Level (L 17) as specified in the Pay Matrix under the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 or any subsequent revision;
e) “Organized Group– A Service” means Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)/ IRMS(Accounts),Indian Railway Service of Engineers(IRSE)/IRMS(Engg), Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE)/IRMS(S&T), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)/IRMS(Traffic), Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME)/IRMS(Mechanical), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE)/IRMS(Electrical), Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS)/IRMS(Stores), Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)/IRMS(Personnel);
f) “Service Rules” means the rules applicable to the cadre or service to which an officer belongs, including the Indian Railway Establishment Code, the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, and other applicable Central Civil Services Rules;
3. Level-17 Posts in Railway Board:
| # | Post |
| 1 | Chairman & CEO Railway Board |
| 2 | Member (Finance) |
| 3 | Member (Infrastructure) |
| 4 | Member (Operations & Business Development) |
| 5 | Member (Traction & Rolling Stock) |
| 6 | Director General (Human Resources) |
| 7 | Director General (Safety) |
CHAPTER 1 : Appointment of CRB & CEO
4. Appointment of CRB & CEO
All officers working in L-17 shall be eligible for appointment to the post of Chairman & CEO, Railway Board. Based on experience profile, competence, general reputation, integrity as well as leadership qualities and suitability for the post, one of the officers shall be recommended by the Ministry of Railways for appointment as CRB & CEO for approval of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
5. CHAPTER 2: Selection for other Level 17 Posts
Eligibility for selection
| (a) | Details of services eligible for 06 posts of L-17
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| (b) | For the posts at sub- section (a) above, officers from the services mentioned against each post, and working in ex-cadrel.evel-16 postsor in service specific Level 16 posts, on regular basis, shall be considered. The Service of officers working in ex-cadre Level 16 posts shall be the railway service prior to their appointment in IRMS/ex-cadre. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (c) | Only such of the officers who would be having at least one year residual service on the date of occurrence of vacancy shall be eligible. |
6. Method
| (a) | Vacancies for the posts falling vacant from January to March of the panel year shall be advertised on 1st of June of the preceding year, while those falling vacant from April to December of the panel year shall be advertised on 1st January of the panel year. |
| (b) | The cutoff date for determining the eligibility shall be the date of vacancy. |
| (c) | A Selection Committee shall be constituted under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary with Secretary, DoPT and CRB as Members. The Selection Committee shall scrutinize the applications and give its recommendation post wise for consideration of ACC, for appointment to the L-17 posts. The Selection Committee shall devise its own procedure to assess the suitability of the candidates. |
| (d) | The Selection Committee shall recommend for each post, a panel of two names, one of which will be a ‘Reserved name’ and kept in sealed cover, to be operated in case the recommended candidate is unable to join due to any reason. The Reserve names shall be in operation till the selected candidate joins the post or till six months from the date of recommendation by Selection Committee, whichever is earlier. |
| (e) | Any unanticipated vacancies on the posts, arising during the year can be filled from the reserved name for the post, provided that the candidate is otherwise found eligible. |
CHAPTER 3: Appointment to ex-cadre Level 16 posts
7. List of ex-cadrel-16 posts
| # | Post | Numbers |
| 1 | General Managers (Zonal Railways) including Metro Railway | 18 |
| 2 | General Manager, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai | 1 |
| 3 | General Manager, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan | 1 |
| 4 | General Manager, Banaras Locomotive Works, Varanasi | 1 |
| 5 | General Manager, Rail Wheel Factory, Bengaluru | 1 |
| 6 | General Manager (Construction),Northeast Frontier Railway, Guwahati | 1 |
| 7 | General Manager, Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareli | 1 |
| 8 | General Manager, Central Organization for Railway Electrification, Prayagraj | 1 |
| 9 | General Manager, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala | 1 |
| 10 | Director General, Research, Designs and Standards Organization, Lucknow | 1 |
| 11 | Additional Member,Planning,Railway Board | 1 |
| 12 | Secretary,Railway Board | 1 |
| Total | 29 |
8. Principles for preparation of panel for appointment to ex-cadre Level-16 posts
a) A panel shall be prepared for vacancies arising in a calendar year.
b) Officers having at least 2(two) years residual service, as on 1st January of the panel year, shall be eligible for consideration.
c) Applications shall be invited batch-wise. However, the officers from all senior batches may also apply; subject to the condition that they fulfill all the prescribed eligibility criteria.
d) Panel for these ex-cadre L 16 posts shall be prepared from the eligible candidates, selecting the best suitable officers through a comprehensive assessment by Ministry of Railways and approved by ACC.
e) Posting shall be done with approval of ACC based on vacancies and suitability of empaneled officers. Empaneled officers will be posted as and when vacancies arise.
f) There shall be no departmental quota. Also, there shall be no open-line versus non-open-line distinction for posting as General Manager.
9. Process for preparation of panel for appointment to ex-cadre Level-16 posts
9.2 Eligibility
For being considered eligible for appointment to ex-cadre L 16 posts, the officer should belong to one of the eight Organized Group ‘A’ Services and should be working in Level 15 [Higher Administrative Grade (HAG)] or above on regular basis.
9.2 Eligible officers of the batches to be considered for appointment to ex-cadre L 16 will be asked to apply. Application shall consist of the following:
i) Top five challenging situations faced by the officer
ii) Description of top five contributions to the organization in lifetime
iii) Top five situations of effectively contributing as a team member
iv) Top three situations of effectively leading teams
v) Top three system changes done by the officer in entire career
9.3 A Selection Committee comprising Chairman & CEO Railway Board, Secretary, DOP&T and one non-railway officer (like Secretary DPITT, or Secretary MORTH, or CEO NITI Aayog, etc.) to be nominated by Minister of Railways will make an overall assessment of the officer based on following inputs: i) Expert Panel (EP) assessment of ACR/APARs; ii) EP Multi-Source Feedback; and iii) Application.
Internal Guidelines for the assessment process to aid the selection committee in decision making for the empanelement are enclosed as Schedule-I.
Based on this overall assessment, the selection committee will recommend the panel, comprising 1.25 times of the vacancies arising during the calendar year for ex-cadre L-16 for approval of the ACC. The enhanced 25% of empanelled officers shall be maintained as an extended panel, to be drawn upon in the event of any likely vacancy arising from sudden or unforeseen circumstances during the validity of the panel.
9.4 Periodicity of meeting of Selection Committee and currency of panels
The selection committee shall meet sufficiently in advance before occurrence of vacancies during the next calendar year. Panel shall be valid till 31st December of the panel year.
9.6 Sudden or unforeseen vacancy in ex-cadre Level-16, arising during the year shall also be filled from the panel recommended by the Committee.
10. Appointment of officers on the panel to ex-cadre L 16 posts
a) Inclusion in the panel does not entitle appointment to a particular post.
b) All officers empaneled for ex-cadre L 16 shall be eligible for appointment to all ex-cadre L-16 posts. Keeping in view the specific requirements of the post and suitability of the empaneled officers for the posts to be filled up, officers based on comprehensive assessment will be recommended for appointment as ex-cadre L 16 and equivalent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
c) The Ministry of Railways may transfer these officers if it considers expedient to do so in the interest of effective functioning of the railways.
CHAPTER 4: Appointment to service specific Level-16 posts
11.1 List of service-specific Level-16 posts
(List of posts as existing and the description and work are subject to change from time to time to suit the requirements of Railways)
| S.No. | Service | Designation |
| 1. | IRAS | AM (Finance) |
| 2. | AM (Budget) | |
| 3. | DG(IRIFM), Secunderabad | |
| 4. | AM (Revenue) | |
| 5. | IRPS | AM (Staff) |
| 6. | AM (Human Resources) | |
| 7. | IRSE | AM (Civil Engineering) |
| 8. | AM (Works) | |
| 9. | Special DG(Engg)./RDSO/Lucknow | |
| 10. | AM (Land & Amenities) | |
| 11. | DG(IRICEN), Pune | |
| 12. | IRSEE | AM (Railway Electrification) |
| 13. | AM (Traction) | |
| 14. | DG(IRIEEN), Nasik | |
| 15. | Pr. CAO(PLW), Patiala | |
| 16. | IRSME | AM (Mechanical) |
| 17. | AM (Production Units) | |
| 18. | AM (Environment and Housekeeping Management) | |
| 19. | DG(IRIMEE), Jamalpur | |
| 20. | Pr. CAO (RWP), Bela | |
| 21. | IRSS | AM (Railway Stores) |
| 22. | Special DG(Vendor Development)/RDSO/Lucknow | |
| 23. | IRSSE | AM (Signal) |
| 24. | AM (Telecom) | |
| 25. | DG(IRISET), Secunderabad | |
| 26. | IRTS | AM (Traffic) |
| 27. | AM (Commercial) | |
| 28. | AM (Tourism & Catering) | |
| 29. | AM (Marketing & Business Development) | |
| 30. | DG(IRITM), Lucknow |
11.2 Eligibility
a) For service specific posts, officers of the relevant service working in Pay Level 15 on regular basis shall be considered in the order of their seniority.
b) Only such of the officers who would be having at least one year residual service before superannuation on the date of occurrence of vacancy falling in their turn would be eligible for consideration for these posts.
c) For appointment to the posts of Additional Member (Traffic), Additional Member (Mechanical Engineering), Additional Member (Civil Engineering), Additional Member (Traction), and Additional Member (Signal), in addition to the above requirements, the officer concerned to be considered suitable for these posts should have worked as Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) for a minimum tenure of 15 months, as the incumbents of these posts are directly involved in Railway operations.
d) Incumbents for the posts of Additional Member shall be recommended by a Selection Committee comprising of Chairman, Railway Board as Chairman, Secretary/DoP&T and the concerned Member of Railway Board, as Members.
e) Overall performance record of the officer should be ‘Very Good (+)” in his/her APARs of the last 10 years. The Selection Committee shall make assessment of officers in the zone of consideration based on APARs (10 years), relevant experience gained by an officer in different assignments, particularly in challenging positions, his/her technical and professional exposure and his/her potential for shouldering higher challenging responsibilities. Also, officers of proven integrity with clean record should only be recommended by the Selection Committee if otherwise suitable for appointment against the posts mentioned at 11.1 above, for approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
12. General
12.1 Date of effect
(i) Any proposal for empanelment or appointment under process in terms of the resolution dated May 27, 2022shall stand terminated with effect from the date of notification of these Rules.
(ii) All existing and future vacancies shall be filled up as per the Indian Railway (Selection to Senior posts)Rules, 2025.
13. Relaxation
Any of the above-mentioned provision of the rules, if otherwise considered expedient in the public interest may be relaxed to the extent necessary, with the prior approval of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
14. Interpretation
All questions of doubt regarding the interpretation of the rules shall be decided by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with the Department of Personnel &Training and with the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
15. The documents relating to the overall assessment shall be treated as strictly confidential to ensure the fairness and accuracy of the comprehensive assessment process.
ORDER
Ordered that a copy of the Notification be circulated among the members of various Group ‘A’ Railway Services.
Ordered also that the Notification be published in the Gazette of India for general information.
ANAND KUMAR, Establishment Officer
Schedule-I
Internal Guidelines for comprehensive assessment process for selection of officers into ex-cadre posts of Level-16 (HAG+) in Railways
1. Batch wise empanelment
Panel will be created batch wise. There shall be no departmental quotas. Empaneled officers will be posted as and when vacancies arise. Panel for next batch will be prepared well in advance so that the new panel can be considered for filling vacancies arising during the next panel year.
2. Constitution of Experts Panel (EP)
a) A panel of experts (EP) would be created from amongst a set of retired officers. Panel selection
would be done with utmost care.
b) Retired officers of following ranks would be considered for creating panel.
- Chairmen and Members of Board
- Secretaries, Government of India
- General Managers (GM)
- Additional Members (AM)
- Principal Heads of Departments (PHODs)
d) The Experts Panel will assist on assessing the ACRs/APARs, getting multi-source feedback, and evaluating the applications.
3. Assessment of ACRs/APARs
a) ACRs/APARs of entire career will be considered for evaluation purpose.
b) EP shall evaluate the ACR/APAR on following grounds:
- Whether the gradings match the performance and achievements of the officer and in the light of the officer’s self-assessment and the remarks of the reporting, reviewing and accepting authority.
- Whether the assessment shows a consistent trend.
Reasons for inconsistencies. - Normalization for cases where a reporting, reviewing, or accepting authority is known to be liberal or conservative.
Consistency between assessments by different officers in case an officer holds multiple charges. - Assessment in case of gaps – whether such gaps have been created due to lack of self assessment, or due to lack of review process, or due to lack of acceptance process.
- Normalization over different zonal railways or production units or other entities of railways wherever a particular administrative unit is known to be liberal or conservative.
- Consider representation of officers in case any representation is received.
4. Multi-Source Feedback
a) EP will interact telephonically with a range of connected stakeholders including peers, seniors, serving Members, serving GMs and external stake holders.
b) The range should be as diverse as possible.
c) MSF should be collected from a minimum of seven (7) persons.
d) EP will capture each stakeholder’s opinion of the officer in an MSF format having 7 simple questions (about decision making, taking ownership, being proactive, has track record of delivery, being team player and team leader, reputation of being honest, and suitability for senior level) to be scored on a scale of 1 to 5.
e) EP will ensure anonymity and confidentiality of stakeholders to elicit honest and accurate feedback.
5. The documents relating to the overall assessment shall be confidential.
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