RBE No.61/2026
भारत सरकार/GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
रेल मंत्रालय/MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(रेलवे बोर्ड/RAILWAY BOARD)
No. E(NG)-1/2026/TR/15 (E-File: 3537162)
New Delhi, dated 22.07.2026
All Zonal Railways/PUs
The General Manager (P) (As per standard mailing list)
Sub: Transfer Policy for prioritizing own request transfer of non-gazetted railway employees having more than 20 years of regular service.
Ref: (i) Para 312 of IREM Vol. I.
(ii) Railway Board's letter No. E(NG)I-85/SR6/14 dated 21.01.1986 (RBE No. 16/1986).
(iii) Railway Board's letter No. E(NG)I-99/TR/15 dated 08.02.2000 (RBE No. 24/2000).
(iv) Railway Board's letter No. E(NG)I-2019/TR/10 dated 17.08.2023 (Master Circular No. 24).
Instructions regarding own request transfers of non-gazetted employees have been issued from time to time by Railway Board. As per the current procedure, transfer requests of employees are registered as per their category, with priority being assigned based on the date of submission of applications. Applications are then forwarded in order of priority based on the vacancy position in the Relieving Unit. On receipt of No Objection Certificate from the Accepting Unit, transfer order of the applicant is issued by the Relieving Unit. It is seen that there are certain employees across all the zones of Indian Railways who have been awaiting transfer on request for a considerable period of time. A number of these employees have already served for a considerable number of years in Indian Railways.
2. It has accordingly been decided to introduce a new category of own request transfers on priority basis of those non-gazetted railway employees with more than 20 years of regular service. This would be an employee friendly measure designed to ensure that requests of employees who have served Railways for more than 20 years are processed on priority basis in recognition of their long years of service.
3. The modalities of the new policy for prioritising own request transfers of employees with more than 20 years of regular service are detailed below:
i. The employees seeking transfer shall continue to apply for transfer to the desired zonal railway/division/unit on HRMS portal.
ii. On the first of every month, HRMS shall generate a consolidated priority list of employees with more than 20 years of regular service who have sought transfer on own request.
iii. The priority list shall be generated taking the following criteria into consideration:
(a) Category-wise priority lists shall be generated for each Accepting Unit separately.
(b) The priority list for transfer shall be based on the number of years of regular service in descending order.
iv. Once the monthly priority list is generated on HRMS in terms of Para 3 (ii) and (iii) above, transfer orders strictly in the order of priority, to the extent of vacancies available in the
Accepting Unit shall be automatically issued on HRMS. No NOC from the Accepting Unit shall be required for this purpose.
V. Subsequent to issue of auto-transfer orders on HRMS, the employee will be physically relieved as per the current procedure with the approval of the controlling JAG officer/Branch Officer within 15 days of the issue of the auto-transfer order on HRMS.
vi. Physical relieving of the employee may only be put on hold with the approval of DRM, and only in the following cases:
(a) Employee is not clear from D&AR/Vigilance cases.
(b) Proper handing over of stock sheets, etc. has not taken place. In such cases, even if no reliever has been posted, it would be the responsibility of the Controlling JAG officer / Branch Officer to nominate staff to complete the handing over/taking over formalities. Under no circumstances should the physical relieving of the staff be delayed beyond one month on this account.
(c) Employee does not have the prescribed educational qualification required.
(d) Cases of all such employees whose physical relieving has been put on hold will be reviewed every month at the level of DRM. Cases of employees not having the requisite educational qualification shall, however, be rejected and their transfer order issued on HRMS shall be cancelled.
4. Transfers under the new 20 years scheme shall be considered only for change of place and no requests for Change of Category or Department shall be considered under this scheme. Further, no transfers from the open line to Production Units/Workshops shall be considered under the 20 years scheme.
5. Other than the procedure detailed above, extant rules governing own request transfers shall continue to apply to employees covered under the 20 years scheme.
6. The existing procedure, including, inter alia, the procedure for registration of applications, maintenance of priority on the basis of the date of registration and requirement of NOC from the Accepting Unit shall continue to apply to employees with less than 20 years of regular service.
7. Successful implementation of the 20 years scheme would require readiness of HRMS in all aspects including having all details of posting, educational qualification and other requisite details. Therefore, the scheme shall become operational w.e.f. two months from the date of issue of this policy circular, enabling the HRMS team as well as the various units of Indian Railways to be in readiness for operationalization of the scheme.
Receipt of these instructions may kindly be acknowledged.
Hindi version will follow.
Sanjay Kamar
Dy. Director/Estt.(N)
Railway Board
Phone-43658/011-23303658
