Railway Servants (Hours of Employment) Rules, 1961 were framed under the Indian Railway Act, 1890.

Subsequently, in the year 2005, it is amended as ‘Railway Servants ( Hours of Work and
Period of Rest) Rules, 2005. The Railway Servants ( Hours of Work and Period of Rest) Rules, 2005
determines and regulates the hours of employment of the workers, necessary periods of rest between two
periods of work, weekly rest, overtime allowance, etc.

The ‘Railway Servants ( Hours of Work and Period of Rest) Rules, 2005 are applicable to
all non-gazetted Rly. Employees including casual labour and substitutes except those who are
governed under the Factory Act, the Mines Act, the Minimum Wages Act and Merchant Shipping Act ( i.e.,
those employed in Workshops or on ferries).

CLASSIFICATION OF SERVICES UNDER HOER:- All employments of Railway Servants

except those ‘EXCLUDE’ from the purview of the HOER are assumed to be ‘CONTINUOUS’. Thereafter,
on the basis of factual job analysis, the employment may be classified either as ‘INTENSIVE’ or
‘ESSENTIALLY INTERMITTENT’.

1. INTENSIVE:- The employment of a Railway servant is said to be Intensive when it has been
declared to be so by the prescribed authority on the ground that it is of a strenuous nature involving
continued concentration or hard manual labour with little or no period of relaxation.
Staff under this category: Section Controllers, Telephone / Wireless Operators.

2. ESSENTIALLY INTERMITTENT: The employment of a Railway servant is said to be

Essentially Intermittent where the daily hours of duty including the period of inaction aggregating 6 hours
or more (inaction period of less than 5 minutes should be ignored)having at least one such period of one
hour and two such periods of half an hour during which the Rly. Servant may be on duty but is not called
upon to display either physical activity or sustained attention.
Staff under this category: Waiting Room Bearers, Bungalow peons, Saloon Attendants, Safaiwalas,
Gate Men, Care Takers.

3. EXCLUDED:-The employment of railway servant is said to be ‘Excluded’, if he belongs to one of the

following categories: -
(a) Staff employed in confidential capacity. (b) Certain staff of Health and Medical department
(c) Armed guards and other personnel subject to discipline similar to that of armed guards
(d) Staff of Railway Schools imparting technical training or academic education (e) Supervisory Staff.
Excluded staff has no limitation of hours of employment.
Staff under this category: - Confidential Staff, Stenos, Matrons, Sister-in–Charge, Family Planning Field
Workers, Projectionists etc.
4. CONTINUOUS:-Staff who are not declared as Intensive, Essentially Intermittent and Excluded
come under the category of continuous staff. Category of Staff: ASMs, Drivers, Guards, TTEs, Non-
supervisory clerks, Typists.
Fixation of Hours of Work:- The hours of work of a Railway
servant as per roster may be continuous or may have short interval for rest,
or breaks due to exigencies of service or deployment.
(1) Subject to the limit specified in section 132 and having regard to the
requirement of the service and the nature of work, the Railway
Administration shall fix the normal rostered hours of work for the various
categories of railway servants in the manner indicated in these rules.
The rostered hours of work of Railway servants shall consist of-
(i) Standard hours of duty;
(ii) Additional hours as may be prescribed in the case of certain categories
classified as essentially intermittent; and
(iii) Time required to do Preparatory or Complementary work or both for
those who are required to do such work.
The standard hours of duty for different classes of employment of Railway
servants shall be as under : -
(a) Intensive 42 hours a week;
(b) Continuous 48 hours a week; and
(c) Essentially Intermittent 48 hours a week;
Railway servants having essentially intermittent class of employment shall
be called upon to work as per rule 8(2)(ii) additional hours as indicated
below :
(i) Gatemen 'C' Caretakers of Rest Houses and Reservoirs, etc.,
24 additional
Chowkidars and Saloon Attendants
(ii) Railway servants posted to work in Essentially Intermittent hours per
employment at road-side stations and provided week
with residential quarters with 0.5 Kms. From their place of duty

(iii) Rest of the employees posted to work in Essentially 12 additional

Intermittent class of employment per week.
hours per week

(b) Such additional hours of work shall be reflected in the duty rosters of the
Railway servants concerned.

The time required by various categories of staff to do preparatory or

complementary work or both, which includes the work of handling over and
taking over charge, must necessarily be carried out outside the limits laid
down for general working of an establishment, branch or shift and shall be
determined by means of job analysis of such work in respect of
representative posts in respective categories.
The time determined under sub-rule (5) shall be added to the standard
hours of duty of the staff in all the various classifications subject to
maximum limit prescribed below:-
(a) when employment is intensive 3 hours a week:
(b) when employment is continuous 6 hours a week
(C) when employment is essentially intermittent :-
(i) Gatemen 'C' Caretakers of Rest Houses and Reservoirs, Chowkidars, Saloon
Attendants and those posted at road-side stations and provided with residential
quarters within 500 metres from their place of duty……………….…. 3 hours a week
(ii) Railway servants other than those mentioned
in sub-clause (i) ………….. 4-1/2 hours a week.

The time required for preparatory or complementary work by the running

staff shall be deemed to be 4 hours a week.

STATURORY HOURS OF EMPLOYEMNT & PERIODIC REST

S.NO Classification of Statutory Shift Rostered Hours of Work Weekly Rest

staff under HOER maximum duty
Without With P&C
hours of
P&C work work
work

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Intensive 45 hours on 6 Hrs. 42 hours a 42+3hrs for Not less than 30

an average a week P&C work consecutive
1 (Section Controller,
week hours each
Tele/W-L operator)
week

Continuous 54 hours on 8 Hrs 48 hours a 48+3 hrs or Not less than 30

an average a week 6 hrs a week consecutive
2 (Office Staff, T.C as case may hours each
week
ASM, SM, AYM) be week

Essentially 75 hours a 12 Hrs 48 hours + 48+24 hrs. + Not less than 24

Intermittent week (i) 12 hrs 3 hrs. for consecutive hrs
(*) or (ii) P&C work including a full
3 (WRB, Bungalow
24 addinal night in each
Peons, Gate Men,
hrs. a week week
Care Taker, Sal-
Attendant)
 Excluded
The staff under this category shall have no limitation of hours of
(Confidential Staff, employment and there is no statutory provision for their period of rest.
4 Matrons, Sister-Inc. On humanitarian grounds, unreasonable conditions of employment
F/Planning Worker] should not however be imposed. For Gr-D, one rest of 48 hrs. or 02
rests of 24 hrs., in fortnight.

(*) Gateman, Caretaker of Rest Houses, Reservoirs etc. and Saloon Attendants and those posted
at road side stations and not provided with Rly. Qtrs., within 0.5 KM from their place of duty.

Office staff are rostered for 81/2 hours a day including half an hour’s a break, i.e. 8 hrs., a day
with weekly rest on Sundays and ‘off’ on Saturdays.

Preparatory & Complementary time required for running staff :

1.It shall be deemed to be 4 hrs.,per week,

2. Less than 15 min. per day will not be exhibited as P & C work in the roster,

3.In case of employment in continuous nature the time between 15 min. to 45 mins. Per day

should be treated as 30 mins. And 45 mins to 1 hour should be treated as 01 hour work.

4. In case of E I and Intensive category, such time assessed between 15 mins. And 30 mins. Per
day shall be treated as 30 mins. Work.

5. Total hours for Preparatory or Complementary work or both shall so fixed to ensure that
the overall duty hours do not exceed the limit prescribed for respective classification.

Periodic Rest:- No Rly. Servant classified as Intensive, Continuous or E/I, shall be called on
duty unless one has had a rest not less than 12, 10 & 08 consecutive hours, respectively after
completion of the previous tour of duty. Such rest shall be given so far as possible by
employment of rest giver. No rly servant in any way shall be required to work for more than 14
days without a periodic rest.

Grant of Periodical Rest:-

Intensive & Continuous For every week commencing on Sunday be granted a rest of not less
than 30 consecutive hours.

Essentially Intermittent For every week commencing on Sunday be granted a rest of not less
 than 24 consecutive hours including a full night.

Excluded There is no statutory provision for their periodic rest. However, on

humanitarian grounds, no unreasonable conditions of employment
should be imposed.

Periodic Rest for running staff:-The Loco or Traffic running staff shall be granted each
month a rest of at least 04 periods of not less than 30 consecutive hours each or 05 periods of
not less than 22 consecutive hours including a full night. It should be given as far as possible
once in every 10 days. The hours of work shall from “signing on” to “signing off” the time spent
by a running staff on non-running duties, such as travelling spare on duty or waiting at a station
for returning to H.Q. etc., will however be excluded for the purpose of reckoning the 10 hrs.
(maxm. duty hrs. in a spell) limit though the same will count for the purpose of overtime as
admissible under the rule.

Definitions:-

1. Full Night:- Full night means the period between 10.00 PM to 06.00 AM

Night Duty:-Means employment during any part of the night from 10.00 PM to 06.00AM. For
the running staff it should not normally exceed 06 nights at a stretch.

2. Long On:- Means a period of duty over 08 hrs., in case of intensive workers; over 10 hrs. in
case of continuous workers & over 12 hrs. in case of E.I workers. This should be avoided during
preparation of roster.

3. Short Off:-Short off means a short period of rest between the ends of one rostered duty
and the beginning of the following rostered duty.
(i) in the case of Intensive workers, less than 12 hrs. in a roster of 06 hrs. duty and less than
14hrs. in a mixed roster of 06 & 08 hrs.duty;

(ii) in the case of Continuous workers, less than 10 hrs. &

(iii) in case of E.I. worker and less than 08 hrs.

4. Split Duty:- Means duty in 02 or more spells (maximum 03 spells) with intervening breaks
each of half or more hours necessitated by exigencies of work and when the employee is free to
leave his place of duty. Intervals for rest and meals shall not be breaks for the purpose of split
duty. In case of an employment of Continuous nature, the Rly. Servant whose place of
residence is beyond 1.6 kms.,seven hrs. of split-duty shall be treated as equivalent to 08 hrs. of
duty.
5. Roster:-A document which shows the hours that a Railway servant is expected to be on duty
every day, the daily as well as weekly rest and break between spells of duty in a day besides
other necessary particulars.

6. Roadside Station:- The station other than an important junction station, a station
with Marshalling Yard, and important terminal station, a station from which trains are
ordered as a regular measure and a station where a separate goods office is provided.

7. Rest Giver:- The rest giver relieves the staff to enable them to enjoy periodical rest and
in adequacy thereof may result in over time working. Normally, 01 rest giver is required
for 06 working posts.

8. Leave Reserves:- The following percentage for Leave Reserve should be adapted :-

Operating Staff Gr.’C’ & ‘D’ - 16.66 to 30

Running Staff ------------------- -- 15 to 30

-

Comml.Staff Gr. ‘C’ & ‘D’ ------- 15 to 25

Office Clerk & Skilled Staff ------------12.5

Class IV semi skilled -------------------12.5

9. Compensatory Rest:- A Railway Servant exempted any periodical rest shall be granted
Compensatory Rest within one month from date on which the staff has foregone the periodic
rest.

10. Over Time:-When the staff are required to work extra hours, they will be compensated
for this by payment of Overtime as under:-

a) for the excess hours of work rendered by a Rly. Servant between the limits of rostered hours
and statutory hrs., payment will be made at 11/2 times of the ordinary rate of pay &

b)forthe excess hours of work rendered beyond statutory limits, payment shall be made @
twice of the ordinary rate of pay.

The Over Time may be calculated in weekly basis, bi-weekly basis and daily basis.

Weekly basis:- Applicable to E.I Workers other than who are ‘C’ Class Gateman, Caretaker of
Rest House & reservoirs, Saloon Attendant.
Bi-weekly basis:-Applicable to E.I workers mentioned at ‘a’, Intensive and Continuous Workers
and deemed roster for Running Category in Bi-weekly period is 104 hrs.

Daily basis:- Office Clerk and Gr. ‘D’ staff posted at office, Gang Staff and works staff of Civil
Engg., staff belong to Store Department, expect Store Van Clerk and Store Van Khalasi.

Calculation of Hourly Rate:-Hourly Rate (Governed by averaging principal) =Period of

Averaging/ No.of rostered hours in averaging period x 1/30 x Monthly ordinary Rate of Pay.

Hourly Rate (Not governed by averaging principal) = 1/No.of daily rostered hours x 1/30 x
monthly ordinary rate of pay.

Procedure for change of classification and Job Analysis:-

The mechanics of Job analysis are that

a. The collection of data should be objective.

b. The factual job analysis should be conducted for 72 hours
c. The days of job analysis should be so chosen that the normal work load and
normal
time span in which duties are performed can be taken into account

d. Actual duty list of staff are consulted

e. Past records are consulted with a view to ensuring the results obtained are
correct
f. Periods of actions are correctly recorded
g. Periods of action should clearly indicate those on sustained attention when a
worker
may not be physically active etc.

The procedure for conducting Job Analysis for a particular employment is as

under:-

a). A suggestive roster containing detailed proposal with reason will be initiated by the
Supervisor which will be forwarded by Branch Officer to Personnel Branch for processing.

b). A committee member of Sr.Sub-Ordinate is to be constituted consisting of Supervisors from

department concerned, Personnel and Accounts for conduction of factual Job Analysis for 72
Hrs.

c). The committee will observe the period of action of particular category during employment
for 72 Hrs.on the basis of normal work load. They will also observe the gravity of attention on
the employment.
d). The period of action in 24 Hrs. employment will be ascertained from the observation.

e). Similarly, the period of relaxation/ inaction will also be ascertained in 24 Hrs. As per
definition if the inaction and relaxation is more than 50% it will be classified as E.I. If the
inaction and relaxation is little say less than 01 hour and the gravity of attention is strenuous it
will be classified as Intensive, otherwise Continuous.

f) According to the re-classification, the post may be increased or decreased. In case of

decrease the posts rendered surplus to be decided. In case of increase of post, the calculation is
to be made for requirement of extra manpower including LR and RG and the money value for
such creation is to be calculated.

g) A planning for procurement of personnel to be chalked out. Before sending any Indent to
RRB the Re-deployment from other surplus post may be taken into account.

h)Departmental Supervisor will certify the parameters of the Job-Analysis on the basis of
departmental working, Personnel Supervisor will certify the Establishment Rules and Accounts
will certify its financial implication.

i)The full report after acceptance of departmental Branch Officer will be concurred in by
Accounts department and approved by DRM for final sanction of CPO.

A Numerical Example on Job Analysis

Q. A Job Analysis was conducted in a road side station for ascertaining the classification of the
category like Station masters. A 03 (three) members committee was constituted who after
conducting 72 Hrs. factual Job Analysis observed the following:-

1.The Train passing duty including Line Clear, Line Close, Passing of Train =20 Hrs.

2. The Block duties for work of Civil.Engg., Elect (TRD), S & T = 05 Hrs.

3.The commercial duties =05 Hrs.

4. The safety related duty including instructions to the cabin =04 Hrs.

5. Maintenance of Official records and registers =01 hour.

Find out the classification of SM Category? Ascertain the minimum requirement of SM including
Rest Giver ( LR is provided in the section) ?

Ans:- The total period of action in 72 hrs.= 35 hrs.(20+05+05+04+01)

Therefore, the period of action in 24 hrs =35/3 = 11 hrs.40minis

Therefore, the total period of inaction in 24 hrs.= 24hrs-11.40 minis = 12.20 minis.

Therefore, the total period of inaction aggregates to more than 50%

In terms of Estt.Srl.No.169/05, this category is classified as Essentially Intermittent since the

period of inaction is more than 50%.

As he is posted at road side station, 1). If provided with Railway Accommodation with in 500
metres his rostered hrs. will be 72 hrs. per week. The daily average work will be 12 hrs. Hence,
minimum 02 SM are required to operate the station for 24 hrs. The rest Giver = 1/6th of 02 =
0.33 which is ignored. (2) If not provided Railway Accommodation with in 500 metres his
rostered hrs. will be 60 hrs. per week. The daily average work will be 10 hrs. Hence, minimum
03 SM are required to operate the station for 24 hrs. The rest Giver = 1/6th of 03 = 0.50 which
is 01.

 Complaints for wrong classification can be made to Regional Labour Commissioner and
further to Central Govt., Ministry of Labour, whose decision would be final.