RAILWAY SERVANTS HOURS OF WORK AND PERIOD OF REST RULES, 2005
(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.
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1. Vide G.S.R. 75, dated 28th February, 2005, published in the Gazette of India, Pt. II, Sec. 3(i), dated 5th March, 2005.
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 per cent of basic pay in the case of running staff as defined in rule 1507 of the aforesaid Code;
(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 Personnel 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 Administratio
(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.
(1) The Ministry of Labour shall, by order in writing, specify the railway servants or classes of railway servants who shall be treated as supervisory staff under sub-clause (iv) of clause (c) of section 130 on the ground that the railway servant 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 order 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
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;
(i) Projectionists.
In addition to the above, the
(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 section 130 is intended to convey that the attention demanded of the railwa
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 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
(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-sections (1), (2) and (3) of section 132 and sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 133.
(2) The Head of Railway Administration may by order in writing delegate his powers 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.
The particulars of all extra hours of work done by a railway servant beyond the prescribed rostered hours of duty shall be recorded in a register to be maintained in Form A appended to these rules by the officer authorised in this behalf by the Head of the Railway Administration.
(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
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.
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.
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.
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 it relates.
(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.
The Railway Servants (Hours of Employment) Rules, 1961 and any orders issued thereunder insofar 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 of 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
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