Railway Station Master Salary, Job Profile And Career Growth

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A Station Master is also known as SM in its abbreviated form. He or she is an executive employed by Indian Railway Recruitment Board responsible for running trains at a station. The role of Station Master comes with the responsibility of being in charge of running trains at the station assigned him or her. He or she holds the responsibility to operate signals and ensure everything as per the railway rules and regulations. The primary responsibility of the Station Master is ensuring that all the passenger amenities are fit and fine at his or her station so that travellers do not face any problem.

A Station Master is a professional who holds the responsibility of management of station employees. He or she ensures the safety of railway personnel and passengers boarding or deboarding trains and efficiently running the station. In rural areas a station master manages a number of stations or all stations on a local branch line.

What is the Role of Station Master?

A Station Master is a professional responsible for discharge of duties. He or she is responsible for overseeing signals, point gates of level crossings and the whole machinery of systems. A Station Master work responsibilities involve inspection of cabins, signals, lamps, level crossing gates, weighing machines, goods and station yard and vehicles standing therein. On large stations where inspection is not practicable everyday, he or she is responsible to frequently inspect once a week. There is no person other than the Railway Station Master who can give a line of clearance to proceed.

Maintenance

A Station Master is responsible for ensuring cleanliness of the station and its maintenance. He or she supervises the station and installed machines and other equipment there and conducts a quality check.

Ensuring safety

One of the major responsibilities of a Station Master is ensuring that the passenger amenity is fit and fine at his or her station. He or she is responsible for ensuring safety of passengers at his or her station while boarding or deboarding trains.

Operating Signals

A Station Master work involves operating signals at the right time as per the schedule of trains and ensuring all the functions are as per the rules and regulations of Indian Railways.

Help Passengers

Providing help to passengers in all possible ways also is a major job role of a Station Master. In case of any emergencies or accidents, a Station Master is required to play the role of manager at his station and take care of rescue operations.

What are the skills and qualities required to become a/an Station Master?

Aspirants who want to become Station Master are required to possess several skillsets to perform every day work responsibilities. We have provided below a list of Station Master skills.

Organising Skills: A station master requires to stay organised. He or she is required to oversee numerous operations and perform various tasks to ensure efficient functioning of the station master.

Managerial Skills: One of the skills that is required for a Station Master is his Managerial Skills which requires he/she to be responsible for employees working in the railway station and maintaining the passenger amenities and their safety.

Supervisory Skills: Inspection of the railway station, cabins, level crossing gates and weighing machines and station yard vehicles are s He or she has to ensure operations of the railway station as per the rules and regulations of Indian Railways.

Time Management Skills: A Station Master work responsibilities include ensuring scheduled arrival and departure of the train to and from the railway station. He or she is responsible for operating signals on time.

Railway Station Master Salary 2022

The job of a Railway Station Master is among the most desirable post notified by the RRB in the graduate-level category. Students must be curious to know about the eligibility criteria for the station master and the salary one gets after getting appointed. Railway Recruitment Board conducts the RRB NTPC recruitment exam of undergraduate and graduate-level posts in the railways. Every year RRB released a bundle of opportunities for the aspirants in various departments through the job vacancies released by them.

It released 35,281 vacancies for RRB NTPC in 2019. A total of 6865 vacancies for Station Master included in all RRBs were released under RRB NTPC. In this article, we will discuss the salary, job profile, and requirements for the Station Master. Know about the total in-hand salary as per the 7th pay commission.

The initial pay for the station master is 35400 where the total vacancies are 6865.

RRB NTPC Station Master
Level in 7th CPC	Initial Pay (Rs.)	Total Vacancies (All RRBs)
6	35400	6865

RRB NTPC Station Master Salary as per 7th Pay commission

The training period of the station master is 78 days which was earlier 2 years with a bond of 5 years. The initial grade pay during training is Rs 2800 and after the training is complete it is Rs 4200.

	Training Period	78 Days (Earlier 2 Years)
Salary	During Training	Grade Pay Rs. 2800/-
	After Training	Grade Pay Rs. 4200/-
	1st Salary	Rs. 55000/- (Approx)
	Bond	5 Years Bond

The total in-hand salary adding the allowance such as dearness allowance, travel allowance, HRA etc. have been provided below. The total in-hand salary for a newly appointed station master is approximately Rs 55,776. They are also given the night allowance depending on their shift.

I.	Basic Pay	Rs. 35,400/-
II.	Grade Pay	4200/-
III.	DA (Currently 34% Of Basic Pay)	12,036/-
IV.	Travel Allowance (Fixed )	2016/-
V.	HRA ( Varies according to Place)- Minimum	3186/-
	Total Pay (I) + (II) + (III)	56,838/-

Railway Station Master Allowances & Perks

House Rent Allowance (HRA)
Dearness Allowance (DA)
Running Allowance (Based on the km travelled)
Travelling Allowance
New Pension Scheme (10% Deduction)
Night Duty Allowance
Over Time Allowance (OTA)
Compensation on Holidays
Travelling Card issued by Indian Railways for the employee and his / her family members.
Daily Allowance along with mileage allowance for a local journey of more than 8 Km.
Special Child Care allowances for Women and PWD employees
Educational Allowances for children of the employees
Special Compensatory Allowance (for special job locations)

The house rental allowance (HRA) of the Railway Employee depends on their basic pay and the class of city they are posted in. The following table provides an idea about the HRA that is paid to the Station Masters in different classes of cities.

Class of City	House Rental Allowance (HRA)
X Class City	24% of Basic Pay
Y Class City	16% of Basic Pay
Z Class City	8% of Basic Pay

Apart from these allowances, the railway employees are eligible to travel in Indian Railways across the country free of cost and also, medical reimbursements and other medical expenses are fulfilled by Indian Railways.

Railway Station Master Job Profile 2022

The Station Master (SM) is responsible for the safe and hassle-free arrival and departure of the trains to a particular station. They have to work in shifts and there are multiple station masters in each station. The responsibilities of a station master (SM) includes the following:

Operating Signals and making sure that everything is fine.
Safe boarding and arrival of the passengers from the train.
Commercial jobs like ticket booking/parcel booking etc. at small stations.
Help passengers in case of any exigencies or accidents.
Keeping station amenities and passengers fit and fine.
Keeping the station neat and clean.
Log the status of arrival and departure of the trains in the system.

Railway Station Master working as manager of the overall operations at the Railway Station. However, their exact work profile may differ from place to place. They may also be required to manage situations during any emergency at the station.

Railway Station Master: After Selection

Here is the following list of points that will let you know what happens after you get selected for the post of Railway Station Master:

Selected candidates will have to undergo training in the said location, and during the training period, the candidates will receive the stipend will be paid as applicable.
Selected candidates will have to execute Surety and/or Indemnity Bond at the time of joining in Railways.
Selected candidates who will be finally appointed for the post, will be liable for active service in Railway Engineers’ Unit of Territorial Army

Railway Station Master Career Growth

In Indian Railways, promotions are based on vacancies which makes it very untimely. There is no hard and fast rule for being promoted. However, if an employee is not being promoted for more than 10 years, Railways advances the grade pay of that employee with arrears up to the current day. But we cannot say that there are no promotions, late or early but promotions are for sure. Here are further details regarding the promotional aspects of Station Master(SM):

The very first echelon a Station Master gets after being promoted is Station Superintendent (SS).
Secondly, SS to Assistant Operations Manager (AOM).
And lastly, AOM (Assistant Operations Manager) to Divisional Operation Manager (DOM).

PERKS of Station Master in Indian Railway

A Station Master working under the biggest employer of India i.e Indian Railways and get many perks in regard to their services. Some perks which a Station Master gets are discussed below:

Compensation on lieu holidays.
A travelling card issued by Indian Railways provides free travelling all over India in 3AC to the employee and his family members.
Daily allowance along with mileage allowance for a local journey beyond 8 km.
Special allowance for child care for women with disabilities and educational allowances.
Female candidates get privilege during posting. Female candidates are mostly posted in city areas.
Special Compensatory Allowances (Tribal/Schedule area).

CONS of Station Master in Indian Railway

Indian Railway provides a bucket full of benefits to their employees as various allowances and perks but we cannot deny the fact that there are still some headaches and things which can slew the minds of the employees, especially Station Master as they have to work according to the circumstances. In case of exigencies, they have to work as a manager, sometimes they have to do commercial jobs which can be a headache for a Station Master. Following are some common cons of a station master profile:

The very first point can be about the area of posting. Sometimes being posted in a very remote area can be difficult to tackle as there are minimal facilities available.
Secondly, the inappropriate division of workload. A Station Master handling 10 trains per day and another handling 100 trains per day get the same salary.
In small stations, a Station Master has to be multitasking and he has to do various jobs like ticket/parcel bookings, and dealing with reservation problems.
Thirdly, in case of any delay in the train’s schedule, it’s the station master who has to answer the queries of passengers and sometimes he has to go through the harsh words in case of long delays.
The station master is responsible and answerable to the authority in case of accidents/mistakes.

Educational Qualification Required For Station Master

For the RRB NTPC Station Master post, the minimum educational qualification required is a graduate degree.

RRB NTPC Station Master Age Limit

The age of the candidates at the time of applying for the RRB recruitment must be between 18 to 33 Years.

RRB NTPC Station Master Medical Standards

The medical standards required to be eligible for this post are A-2. Candidates must satisfy the medical criteria given below to be eligible for the appointment.

Sl. No	Medical standard	General fitness	Visual acuity
1	A-2	Physically fit in all respects	Distant Vision: 6/9, 6/9 without glasses (No fogging test). Near Vision: Sn 0.6, 0.6 without glasses and Must pass the test for Colour Vision, Binocular Vision, Night Vision, and Myopic vision.

RRB NTPC Station Master Selection Process

The selection process for Station Master under RRB NTPC will include 4 stages with 2 online examinations followed by typing skill test and Document verification.