Railway Servants (Hours of Work & Period of Rest) Rules, 2005

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(Railway Board)

New Delhi, the 28th February,2005

Railway Servants (Hours of Work & Period of Rest) Rules, 2005

PART - I
CLASSIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT AND HOURS OF WORK
AUTHORITIES TO ENSURE PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER XIV OF THE ACT AND THESE RULES.
RESIDUARY POWERS
REPEAL AND SAVING
REGISTER OF EXTRA HOURS OF WORK
ANNUAL RETURN

PART-I

1. Short title, commencement and application-

1. These rules may be called the Railway Servants ( Hours of Work and
Period of Rest) Rules,2005.
2. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official
Gazette.
3. They shall apply only to those Railway servants to whom Chapter XIV of
the Act. Applies.
2. Definitions:-

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

a. 'Act' means the Railways Act,1989 (24 of 1989);

b. 'full-night' means the period between 10.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m.
c. 'long-on' means a period of duty over eight hours in the case of 'intensive'
workers, over ten hours in the case of 'continuous' workers and over
twelve hours in the case of 'essentially intermittent' workers;
d. 'ordinary rate of pay' includes-
i. Pay as defined in Rule 1303 (F.R.9) of the Indian Railway
Establishment Code volume-II (1990) Edition) and includes
element of running allowance to the extent of 30 percent of basic
pay in the case of running staff as defined in Rule 1507 of the
aforesaid Code;
 ii. Dearness Allowance, Additional Dearness Allowance and
Dearness pay, if any; and
iii. Compensatory (City) allowance;
e. "Railway servants employed in confidential capacity" includes-
i. Stenographers working either in a separate confidential cell or
attached to the officers in Administrative offices:
ii. Cypher operators;
iii. Confidential Assistants and Personal Assistants; and
iv. Any other Railway servant who may be so specified by the Head
of the Railway Administration to have been employed in
confidential capacity;
f. 'Regional Labour Commissioner' means an officer appointed as such by
the Government of India in the Ministry of labour by notification in the
official gazette;
g. 'Roadside station' means a station other than-
i. an important junction station;
ii. a station with marshalling yard;
iii. an important terminal station;
iv. a station where a separate goods office under a supervisory Goods
Clerk, in the grade of Chief Goods clerk or a higher rank
sanctioned on the basis of workload in that Goods Office has been
provided:

Provided that the Head of the Railway Administration or the

authority to whom he may delegate this power, may draw up a list
of road-side stations keeping in view the above definition.

h. 'roster' means 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;
i. 'running staff' means the staff who are defined to be so in Rule 1507 of
Indian Railway Establishment Code Volume - II (1990 Edition);
j. "Section" means a section of the Act;
k. 'short off' means a period of rest which is-
i. in the case of intensive workers:-
A. less than 12 hours in a roster of six hours duty;;and
B. less that 14 hours in a mixed roster of 6 and 8 hours duty.
ii. in the case of continuous worker-less than 10 hours.
iii. In the case of essentially intermittent workers - less that 8 hours.
l. 'split duty' means duty in two or more spells with intervening breaks each
of half or more hour necessitated by exigencies of work and when the
employee if free to leave his place of duty. Intervals for rest and meals
shall not be breaks for the purpose of split-duty;
m. 'sustained attention' as used in sub-section (b), section 130 implies mental
effort.
 Explanation; A pointsman waiting for the arrival of a train after setting
points is required to give sustained attention. Similarly a Station Master or
an Assistant Station master is generally required to pay sustained attention
from the time he gives line clear to the Station in rear till the time the train
arrives and again from the time the line clear is asked for to the time the
train arrives and again from the time the line clear is asked for to the time
the Block section ahead is cleared. Wherever circumstances justify a
different treatment, the period involving sustained attention may be
decided by the Controlling authority. In case of any doubt, the decision of
the Head of the department shall be final.

n. All other words and expressions used but not defined in these rules shall
have the meaning respectively assigned to them in the Indian Railway
Establishment Code or the Act.

PART-II

CLASSIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT AND HOURS OF WORK

3. Prescribed authority to classify the employment of railway servant-

1. The power to declare the employment of railway servants as 'intensive' or
'essentially intermittent' within the meaning of section 130 shall vest in the
head of the Railway administration;

Provided that the Head of the Railway administration may, in his

discretion, delegate the power vested in him under this sub-rule to the
Chief Personal Officer:

Provided further that during the period of emergency such as flood,

accident, the power vested in the competent authority can be exercised by
an officer not below the rank of senior scale.

2. A copy of every declaration made by the prescribed authority under sub-

rule(1) shall, as soon as may be, sent to the Regional Labour
Commissioner concerned and, in case the declaration is made by an officer
other than the Head of the Railway Administration, to the head of the
Railway Administration or the Chief Personnel Officer, as the case may be
.
4. Appeals against classification-
1. any railway servant aggrieved by the declaration of classification made
under rule 3 may, within ninety days from the date of such declaration,
prefer an appeal to the regional Labour commissioner, who after scrutiny
of relevant documents or if considered necessary , after a fresh job
analysis, may order for a change in the classification.
 2. Any railway Servant or Railway administration aggrieved by a decision of
the Regional Labour Commissioner may, before the expiry of ninety days
from the date on which the decision of the Regional Labour Commissioner
is communicated to him, prefer an appeal to the Secretary to the
Government of India in the Ministry of Labour who will dispose it of after
hearing the parties concerned.
5. Supervisory staff-
1. The Ministry of Labour shall, by order in writing, specify the railway
servants or classes of who shall be treated as supervisory staff under sub-
clause (c) of Section 130 on the ground that the Railway servants holds a
position of responsibility, is employed on duties mainly of a supervisory
character and is, from the nature of his work and position , comparatively
free to adjust his hours of duty or work during such hours:

Provided that the railway servants who on the date of publication of these
rules are treated as supervisory staff under the rules shall continue to be
treated as such until the orders specifying the railway servants or classes
of railway servants as supervisory staff is issued under this sub-rule.

2. A copy of every such order issued under sub-rule (1) shall be furnished to
the Chief Labour commissioner (Central), New Delhi
6. Excluded staff.

The following categories of staff of the Health and Medical department shall be
treated as 'excluded' under sub-clause (v) of Clause (C) of section 130, namely:-

a. Matrons;
b. Sisters-in-charge;
c. Midwives who are not posted on regular shift duty in railway Hospitals;
d. Health Educators and District Extension Educators ( Male and Female);
e. Family Planning field Workers ( Male and Female);
f. Lady Health visitors;
g. Auxiliary Nurses-cum-Midwives;
h. Projectionists;

In addition to the above, the Ministry of Railways may by order in writing specify
any other category of railway staff in any of the Departments of the Indian
Railways who shall be treated as 'Excluded' on the consideration that such staff
are available on call.

4. Criteria for determining classification of railway servants-

1. Continuous : All employments of Railway servants except those excluded

from the purview of the Hours of Employment Regulations are assumed to
be 'Continuous'. Thereafter, on the basis of factual job analysis the
 employment may be classified either as 'intensive' or 'essentially
intermittent', as the case may be.
2. Intensive : The two important factors in declaring an employment as
'intensive' under Clause (d) of section 130 of the Act are :-
i. Strenuous nature of the work tending to cause mental or physical
strain; and
ii. Continuous application to such work with little or no periods of
relaxation.

Explanation I : The term 'continued concentration' in clause (d) of the

section 130 is intended to convey that the attention demanded of the
Railway servant concerned for a particular nature nature of job should be
exclusive not to allow any other thought or idea to enter the mind and
must be of such nature as to cause strain (physical or mental or both) upon
the Railway servant concerned as a result of continuous application to
such work over certain period without reasonable periods of respite. Thus,
having regard to the entire period of duty and nature of work, the
prescribed authority shall, before declaring any employment as 'Intensive',
satisfy itself that the above factors are present in the job concerned. In
other words, the prescribed authority shall consider whether the job is of
such a character that it demands continued concentration without any
reasonable periods of relaxation.

Explanation II: Factor (ii) should be considered to have been satisfied

where the periods of rest, inaction or relaxation do not aggregate 6 hours
or more in a cycle of 24 hours or one hour or more in a shift or 8 hours.

3. Essentially Intermittent :

The work of an employee is to be regarded a 'essentially intermittent ' if

his daily duty hours which should be assumed to be twelve hours per day
include –

a. one period of inaction of not less than one hour, or two such
periods of not less than half an hour each and
b. various periods of inaction including the period of inaction
specified in Clouse (a) aggregating 50 percent or more, during
which he is not generally called upon to display either physical
activities or sustained attention.

Note : In assessing the work-load of the 'essentially intermittent'

classification in accordance with sub-section (b) of section 130, periods of
inaction of less than 5 minutes shall be ignored.

4. fixation of hours of work –

 The hours of work of a Railway Servant as per roster (hereinafter referred to as
the rostered hours of work) 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
requirements 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.
2. The rostered hours of work of Railway servant 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.
2. 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;
2.
a. Railway servants having essentially intermittent class of
employment shall called upon to work as per rule 8 (2)(ii)
additional hours as indicated below :

(i) Gatemen 'C', Caretakers of Rest Houses and - 24 additional

Reservoirs Etc, Chowkidars and Saloon - Hours per
attendants. week
(ii) Railway servants posted to work in
Essentially Intermittent employment at road-
side stations and provided with residential
quarters within 0.5 from their place of duty.
(iii) Rest of the employees posted to work in - - 12 additional
Essentially Intermittent class of employment - Hours per
week
b. such additional hours of work shall be reflected in the duty rosters of the Railway
servants concerned.
3. The time required by various categories of staff to do preparatory or
complementary work or both, which includes the work of handing over
and taking over charge, must necessarily be carried out outside the limits
laid down of 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 I respective categories.
4. The time determined under sub-rules (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 .... 3 hours
Reservoirs, chokidars, Saloon Attendants and Those week;
posted at road-side stations and provided with
residential quarters within 500 meters from their
place of duty
(ii) Railway servants other than those mentioned in sub – ..... 4 ½
calouse (i) hours a
week
5. The time required for preparatory or complementary work by the running staff
shall be deemed to be 4 hours a week.

NOTES :

i. Where the time assessed for doing preparatory or complementary

work is under 15 minutes per day, the same shall not be treated as
duty and shall not be exhibited in the roster.
ii. In the case of employment of a 'continuous' nature , the time
assessed for doing 'preparatory or complementary work between
15 minutes and one hour per day should be treated as one hour's
work.
iii. In the case of intensive and essentially intermittent categories of
employment, such time assessed between 15 minutes and 30
minutes per day shall be treated as half an hour's work.
iv. The time assessed for the work mentioned in Note (iii) shall be
reflected in the duty roster of the concerned railway servants;
v. Total hours for preparatory or complementary work or both shall
be so fixed to ensure that the over all duty hours do not exceed the
limits prescribed for respective classification in section 132.
2. Where railway servants are required to perform split-duty, such duty shall
be subject to the following conditions, namely :-

a. The spells of duty shall not exceed three and the number of breaks
shall be limited to two ;
 b. In the case of an employment of 'continuous' nature, the railway
servant whose place of residence is beyond 1.6 kilometers from the
place of duty, seven hours of split-duty shall be treated as
equivalent to eight hours of normal duty.
2. While preparing roster, 'long on' or 'short off' shall, accordingly, be
avoided.
3. Where, in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 132
or sub-section (3) of section 133 and in the circumstances mentioned
therein, a Railway servant is called upon by an order of temporary
exemption made under Rule 9 below by the competent authority to render
duty beyond the hours of work fixed in accordance with the foregoing sub-
rules or beyond the hours prescribed in sub-section (1), (2) and (3) of the
Section 132, it shall be the duty of the Railway servant concerned to
render such extra hours of duty.
4. Power to make temporary exemption ---
1. Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 132 and of sub-
section (3) of Section 133, Head of a Railway Administration may by
order in writing make temporary exemption of any Railway servant or
class or Railway servants from the provisions of sub-section (1), (2) and
(3) of section 132 and sub-section (1) and (2) of section 133.
2. The head of railway administration may by order in Writing delegate his
power under sub-rule (1) to any officer subordinate to him and whom he
may deem fit to exercise the powers.
3. A copy of every order of delegation made under sub-rule (2) shall be sent
to the Regional Labour Commissioner concerned.
5. Principle of averaging and payment of overtime allowance:-
1. Where a Railway servant is required to render extra hours of duty beyond
the roster hours fixed in accordance with rule 8 or beyond the limits
specified for different classes of Railway servant under section 132 he
shall be paid overtime for such extra hours of work subject to the principle
of averaging as specified in sub-rule (2).
2. Averaging shall be done by averaging of the hours of work over the
averaging periods as specified in section 132 which has been adopted to
provide a reasonable measure of elasticity as essential in railway working
for certain classes of railway servants and it shall apply to.

i. running staff
ii. operating staff
iii. shift workers and
iv. those other railway servants whose work is connected with the
work of any of the categories of railway servants mentioned in
clause (i), (ii) and (iii).
2. Subject to the provisions contained in sub-section (4) of section 132
payment of overtime for excess hours of work shall be made as under:-
i. for the excess hours of work rendered by a railway servant
between the limits of prescribed rostered hours of work and the
 hours prescribed in section 132 during the relevant averaging
period payment shall be made as 1½ times the ordinary rate of pay;
and
ii. for the excess hours of work rendered beyond the limits prescribed
in section 132 payment shall be made at two times the ordinary
rate of pay.
3. The hourly rate of overtime shall be worked out on the basis of rostered
hours over the relevant averaging period as under:-

(i) Hourly rate of pay (for Period of x 1/30 of

staff governed by averaging monthly
Averaging Principle) ordinary rate
of pay
----------------------
---
No. of rostered of
work in the
averaging period

(ii) Hourly rate of pay (for 1 1/30 of

those not governed by monthly
Averaging Principle) ordinary rate
of pay
----------------------
--
No. of daily
rostered hours of
work
4. Register of extra hours of work-

The particulars of all extra hours of work done by a Railway servant beyond the
prescribed rostered hours of duty should be recorded in a register to be maintained
in Form 'A' appended to these rules by the officer authorized in this behalf by the
Head of the Railway administration.

5. Periodical rest-
1. Railway servant whose employment is Intensive or Continuous shall be
granted, every week commencing on a Sunday, rest of not less than thirty
consecutive hours and those whose employment is essentially Intermittent,
shall be granted rest of not less than twenty four consecutive hours
including a full night.
2. No Railway servant classified as Intensive, Continuous or Essentially
intermittent shall be called on duty unless one has had a rest of not less
than 12, 10, 8 consecutive hours respectively after completion of the
 previous tour of duty. Such rest shall be given as far as possible through
the employment of rest givers and the rest givers so provided shall be
separate for Continuous and essentially Intermittent categories.
3. Locomotive or traffic running staff shall be granted, each month, a rest of
at least five periods of not less than twenty two consecutive hours of each,
or a rest of at least four periods of not less than thirty consecutive hours of
each including a full night. The hours of work for this purpose shall be
calculated from 'signing on' to 'signing off'.
4. The locomotive and traffic running staff shall not normally be away from
headquarters for more than three or four days at a stretch and the periodic
rest for such staff shall be given at headquarters. Rest at headquarters shall
always include a night in bed, and as far as possible be once in every ten
days.
5. Staff on duty in running trains other than locomotive and traffic running
staff such as Traveling Pay Clerks and Catering Staff attached to
Restaurant Cars shall be given periodic rest on the scale and in the manner
laid down for the locomotive and traffic running staff. Some portion of the
periodic rest may however be given away from their headquarters having
regard to their headquarters regard to their length of trips.
6. The working hours and periodic rest of marine staff, other than those who
are governed by the Factories Act shall be regulated in the same manner as
those of running staff.
7. In accordance with clause (ii) of sub-section (2) of section 133 of the act
the Head of the Railway administration may with the prior approval of the
Ministry of Railway specify the categories of railway servants to whom
the periods of scales less than those laid down under sub-section (1) of the
said section can be prescribed.
6. Compensatory period of rest:-

No railway servant in respect of whom an exemption has been made under rule 9
shall be required to work for more than fourteen days without a period of rest and
shall be provided with compensatory rest within this period.

PART-III

AUTHORITIES TO ENSURE PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROVISIONS

OF CHAPTER XIV OF THE ACT AND THESE RULES.

14. Appointment of Supervisors:-

The supervisors of Railway labour shall be appointed by the ministry of labour.

The manner of their appointment and the educational qualifications etc,
prescribed for the purpose will be as laid down by the ministry of labour from
time to time.
 15. Display of rules and notice:-

Every Railway Administration shall display in a conspicuous place-

a. where the railway servants work, notices specifying the classification of

employment of railway servants; the duration of their hours of
employment, their period of rest and rosters; and
b. in each station or other establishment, a copy of Chapter XIV of the act
and these rules in English, Hindi and in local language.
16. Annual Return-

Every Railway Administration shall send each financial year a return in Form 'B'
appended to these rules, so as to reach the Regional Labour commissioner not
later than the 15th day of May following the end of the financial year to which
relates.

PART-IV

RESIDUARY POWERS

17. Power to make modification in special cases-

1. Notwithstanding anything provided in these Rules, where, in the interest
of efficient working of the Railways, there are certain conditions of special
nature necessitating an immediate modification of any conditions laid
down under these rules to suit local conditions, such modifications which
are not inconsistent with any provisions of Chapter XIV of the Act, may
be effected with prior approval of the Ministry of Railways.
2. A copy of each such modification shall be sent to the Regional Labour
Commissioner concerned
3. If any Railway servant is adversely affected by any such modification
made under sub-rule(1), he may prefer an appeal before the expiry of 90
days from the date of effecting such modification to the Ministry of
Railways whose decision thereon shall be final.

PART-V

REPEAL AND SAVING

18. The Railway servants (Hours of Employment) Rules, 1961 and any orders issued
thereunder in so far as they are inconsistent with these rules, are hereby repealed;
provided that
 1. such repeal shall not affect the previous operation of the said rules or any
orders made or anything done or any action taken thereunder;
2. nothing in these rules shall be construed as depriving any person to whom
these rules apply, of any right of appeal which had accrued to him under
the rules or orders in force before the commencement of these rules.
3. an appeal pending at the commencement if these rules against an order
made before such commencement shall be considered and orders thereon
shall be made in accordance with these rules as if such orders were made
and the appeals were preferred under these rules.
4. as from the commencement of these rules any appeals or application for
review against any orders made before such commencement, shall be
referred or made under these rules as if such orders were made under these
rules.

[File No. E(LL)2001/HER/9]

V. N. MATHUR, Secy. Railway Board

Footnote :- The Railway Servants (Hours of Employment) Rules, 1961 were published
vide G. S. R. 40 dated 6.1.1962 and amended vide G. S. R. 430 dated 26.3.1977.

From 'A'

REGISTER OF EXTRA HOURS OF WORK- REGISTER PRESCRIBED UNDER

RULE 11 OF RAILWAY SERVANTS (HOURS OF WORK AND PERIOD OF REST)
RULES,2005

Station :

Division :

S. Mon Na Desig Classifi Ra Rost Actu Extr Rea Compul Num Reas Signat Amo Rem
N th me nation cation/ te ered al a son sory rest ber ons ure of unt arks
o. and and Intensi of hours Hour Hou for granted of for subor of
date fath ve/ pa s rs wor hour granti dinate over
over er's Contin y Fr T Fr T wor king Da Fr T s for ng inchar time
time na uous/ om o om o ked extr te om o whic temp ge paid
wor me Essenti a h orary granti and
ked ally hour over exem ng date
Intermi s time ption exem of
ttent paya under ption pay
ble sectio under ment
n rules
132(4
 ) and
133
(1 (2) (3) (4) (5) (6 (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16)
) )

FORM 'B'

(See Rule 16)

ANNUAL RETURN FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH ……………………..

S. Name Total Intensiv Continuous Essentiall Superviso Excluded Others Remar

N of No. of e Running Other y ry Employed ks
o. Railw Railwa Staff than intermitte in
ay y Running nt confidenti
servant Staff al
s capacity
employ N Perce N Perce N Perce No. Perce No. Perce No. Perce N Perce
ed o. nt o. nt o. nt nt nt nt o. nt

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Place :

Date :

To

The regional Labour Commissioner (Central)