Nearly 30,000 Railway jobs to be surrendered, redistributed: Which zones will be most impacted?

A total of 29,608 jobs in the Indian Railways are set to be redistributed or surrendered in the Financial Year 2026-27 as the Ministry of Railways has set a manpower rationalisation target of 2% across units.

Northern Railways will be the most affected, with 3,303 jobs impacted under the Railways’ rationalisation target, according to a letter from the Railway Board, dated April 24, 2026.

Central Railways follows closely with 2,492 jobs to be redistributed or surrendered under the plan, while Western Railways will see 2,339 jobs going through the same process.


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In the letter sent on April 24 to zonal railways (ZRs), production units (PUs) and other units, Amit Singh Mehra, director, MPP, Railway Board, mentions that the zone-wise annual MoU targets for manpower rationalisation (redistribution+surrender) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 2026–27 have been conveyed to the Efficiency and Research (E&R) Directorate. This is for inclusion in the annual performance agreements (MoUs) to be signed between the general managers (GMs) of zonal railways & the Railway Board.



“Manpower rationalisation target (redistribution + surrender) for 2026–27 has been fixed at 2% of sanctioned strength as on April 1, 2026,” says the Railway Board in the letter.


All Railways/PUs/other units have to ensure that redistribution/surrender of posts is done only through the HRMS portal, the letter further stated.

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The Railway Board advises that Railways/PUs/Units should meet these targets evenly each quarter, and they should avoid accumulating them till the end of the financial year.



In the letter, it was noted that the current total workforce is 14.80 lakh, with 29,608 jobs falling under the 2% rationalisation target.



Railways’ job rationalisation targets for all units

Railway/PU/Others	Sanctioned Strength (as on 01.04.2026)	Rationalisation Target
CR	124624	2492
ECOR	61956	1239
ECR	96115	1922
ER	127209	2544
Metro	5112	102
NCR	83346	1667
NER	59702	1194
NFR	72295	1446
NR	165150	3303
NWR	62735	1255
SCR	95402	1908
SECR	59201	1184
SER	98341	1967
SR	95322	1906
SWR	44640	893
WCR	65526	1311
WR	116969	2339
BLW	5747	115
CLW	10703	214
ICF	10862	217
MCF RBL	2699	54
PLW	3432	69
RCF	7344	147
RWF	2488	50
RWP	1012	20
RDSO	2523	50

Key takeaways from Railway Board’s job rationalisation plan

Total workforce impact: 29,608 posts targeted for rationalisation out of 14.8 lakh sanctioned strength

Uniform policy

The target is fixed at 2% across all Railway zones and units

Which are highest impacted zones in Railways’ job rationalisation scheme?

The top four zones where most jobs will be rationalised are:

Northern Railway: 3,303 posts

Eastern Railway: 2,544 posts

Central Railway: 2,492 posts

Western Railway: 2,339 posts

Apart from that, South-Eastern Railway (SER), South Central Railway (SCR), Southern Railway (SR) and East Central Railway (ECR) will see 1,800 to 2,000 jobs getting rationalised.



Which are the low-impact zones in Railways’ job rationalisation plan?

South-Western Railways (SWR) will have rationalisation of 893 posts.

Smaller entities have job rationalisation in the range of 20 to 217 posts.