CHENNAI: The Southern Railway is in the process of filling 11,387 vacancies under an ongoing recruitment drive.

These posts are among 1.61 lakh vacancies for which recruitment has been initiated across Indian Railways, the Union government informed the Parliament.

The vacancies in Southern Railway span key operational categories, including assistant loco pilots (ALPs), technicians, junior engineers, track maintainers, pointsmen, ticketing and commercial staff, Railway Protection Force personnel, paramedical staff, and ministerial posts.

According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's written reply in the Lok Sabha, 6,927 posts were notified for Southern Railway in 2024, followed by 3,412 in 2025, and 1,048 this year, taking the total number of vacancies under recruitment to 11,387.

The minister said the Indian Railways has recruited 5.56 lakh employees since 2014 up to June 30, 2026, compared with 4.11 lakh recruitments during the preceding decade. Of these, 50,485 appointments were made in Southern Railway.

He said recruitment was a continuous exercise as vacancies arise due to retirements, expansion of the railway network, technological changes, and operational requirements.

The ministry also pointed to the introduction of an annual recruitment calendar from 2024 to provide predictable recruitment cycles and faster appointments.

The reply further noted that nearly 4.5 crore candidates appeared for computer-based examinations conducted during the 2024 and 2025 recruitment cycles. The panels for more than 3,300 candidates have already been finalised during 2026, most of them in safety-related categories.