Are you looking to become a Loco Pilot? Read on this article, to know qualification, salary structure and selection procedure in Railway Recruitment Board.
Who is loco pilot in railway and what are his responsibilities?
A loco pilot is a senior-level post in Indian Railways; he/she is responsible to drive train and does regular checks for proper maintenance. However, you can’t directly join or become loco pilot.
First candidate need to apply for Assistant Loco Pilot position, after specified work experience she/he will be promoted to Loco Pilot position.
Assistant Loco Pilot is selected as Group “C” personnel. ALP is responsible to assists Senior Loco Pilot in his duty. Though this job comes up with good package and allowances, ALP demands long hours of hard work and need lots of patience.
You’ll be responsible for safety of hundreds of people travelling in the train. It’s a great job to serve the people, eventually your hard work will be recognized and you’ll be promoted to Senior Assistant Loco Pilot. After specified years of experience workman will be given responsibility of Power Controller, Crew Controller, Loco Fireman and then Loco Pilot.
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Job Description of Loco Pilot
As mentioned earlier, Loco pilot is responsible to run the locomotive (train) under the guidance Train Manager. He/she must follow the instructions set by Train Manager regarding train route, speed limit, signaling, safety and brake power. Train managers are head of freight and passenger trains. After 5-6 years of experience in freight trains, train managers are promoted to mail, express and Rajadhani trains.
Assistant Loco Pilot must to spend 10-12 years on freight trains (goods train). After that they are promoted as ‘Loco Pilot Shunter’, who is supposed to drive locomotives in yards with speed no more than 15 km/hr. With at least 2 years of experience as loco pilot shunter, you’re eligible to promote as Loco Pilot/Freight.
Loco pilot job is categorized based on experience, like freight loco pilots are responsible for running goods carrying trains, passenger loco pilots for driving slow trains, mail express loco pilots and Rajdhani loco pilots for running very high speed passenger trains.
If you’re curious to drive a high speed passenger train, then be ready to spend 12 years to get sufficient experience. Job of loco pilot is hectic with sleeping and eating disorders. This is why Indian Railways are paying utmost importance to their shift timings and well maintained resting rooms with home cooked meals.
To make the job easy, Center for Railways Information Systems New Delhi introduced “Crew Management System”, software to check the bookings of railway crew. This replaced the manual work and reduced the time to schedule job. Right now, CMS software has 89,000 crew member database with 30000 railway crew member job is being scheduled. (Source)
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Eligibility to Become Assistant Loco Pilot
If you didn’t skip above sentence, then you must know direct hiring for Loco Pilot is not done in Indian Railways. So, you should first be eligible to become ALP (Assistant Loco Pilot).
RRB is responsible to conduct entrance exam to ALP. Qualification need to apply ALP is 10th+ITI or diploma is Mechanical/Automobile/Electronic engineering from any AICTE recognized University.
If you’ve completed 12th with arts or commerce + apprenticeship, then you’re also eligible to apply for ALP notification released by RRB.
Age Limit: Candidate must fall between 18 – 28 years of age to be eligible to apply for Assistant Loco Pilot. However, SC/ST candidates can have relaxation of upper age limit; check the current notification released by Indian Railway Board.
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What is the Selection Procedure for ALP?
Candidate must appear for 3 Computer Based Test, after gaining required percentage you’ll be called for document verification.
- Computer Based Test (CBT1) will be for 60 minutes with 75 questions.
- Computer Based Test (CBT2) is for 150 minutes with Part A and Part B. Part A has 100 questions and in Part B you’ve to answer 75 questions.
Both CBT1 and CBT2 have negative marking.
After qualifying these two rounds, you’ll be called for third round of CBT Aptitude Test.
Indian Railway Loco Pilot Salary
You must check official notification for salary details. However, from previous notification you can say that salary of Assistant Loco Pilot will be 19900 INR + allowance, according to Level 02 of 7th Pay Matrix.
Allowance may include DA, HRA, Night Duty and Travel Allowance.
Summary: (How to Become Loco Pilot in Indian Railways?)
If you’ve completed 10th + ITI or Intermediate with apprenticeship or Diploma of any stream or Bachelors Degree, then you’re eligible to apply for Assistant Loco Pilot.
After gaining 12-15 years of experience in assisting Senior Loco Pilot you’ll be promoted to Loco Pilot/Freight. After serving as Assistant Loco Pilot for 12 years you’re promoted as Loco Shunter whose responsibility is to run locomotives in yards with speed no more than 15km/hr. After 2 years of experience as Loco Shunter, you’re then promoted to drive goods carrying trains. Further experience in running locomotive can lead you to promote to drive passenger trains like mail express, Rajdhani express etc…
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