Loco Pilot salary

A loco pilot drives the trains of the Indian Railways, and the cadre is entered as an Assistant Loco Pilot at Level 2 of the 7th CPC pay matrix, with an entry basic of Rs. 19,900. What sets a loco pilot’s pay apart from any other railway post is the running allowance, a mileage-based payment for the distance run, and the 30 per cent pay element that lifts the base on which the dearness and house rent allowances are computed. A loco pilot at Level 6, basic Rs. 35,400, draws an in-hand of about Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 90,000 a month depending on the running.

This page sets out that pay: the Assistant Loco Pilot entry pay and the Loco Pilot grades, the running allowance and the pay element that distinguish running staff, how the in-hand is built, and how the post is recruited. The base take-home for a level is worked out by the salary by pay level calculator , to which the running allowance is added. Loco pilots are the running staff that the Railway Group D trackmen and pointsmen, being stationary staff, are not.

Assistant Loco Pilot: pay and in-hand

The entry post is the Assistant Loco Pilot, or ALP, at Level 2, basic Rs. 19,900. The table below is illustrative for an X-class city, because the running allowance varies month to month with the distance run.

Two things distinguish this from a plain Level 2 post. There is no transport allowance: running staff drawing the running allowance are not entitled to the normal transport allowance, because the running allowance already builds in a travel component. And the running allowance itself, absent from any non-running post, is the largest variable in the pay, so an ALP’s in-hand runs about Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 48,000 depending on the distance run in the month. Income tax is nil at this income. Railway medical care is free at railway hospitals, so there is no health-scheme deduction, as for any railway employee .

The running allowance

The running allowance is the defining feature of running-staff pay, and it works differently from any fixed allowance.

Running staff, the loco pilots, assistant loco pilots, and guards, are paid a running allowance , also called the kilometreage or mileage allowance, for the distance actually run, at a rate per 100 kilometres, on top of the basic pay. It compensates for the fact that running staff do not draw the daily allowance that other staff get on tour, and it rewards the throughput of the running. The rate is set by the Railway Board and revised with dearness allowance: about Rs. 430 per 100 kilometres for an Assistant Loco Pilot, and about Rs. 594 to Rs. 606 for a loco pilot depending on the grade of train, under the 2026 revision. Because the amount is per kilometre run, a loco pilot on a busy section covering more distance earns more running allowance than one on a quiet section, and the same post can pay differently month to month. When a running-staff employee is put on non-running duty, an Allowance in Lieu of Kilometreage is paid instead.

The 30 per cent pay element

Alongside the cash running allowance, running staff carry a pay element, and this is the part that quietly raises the rest of the pay slip.

Under the running allowance rules, a pay element equal to 30 per cent of basic pay is reckoned as pay for computing the specified benefits other than retirement, the dearness allowance, the house rent allowance, and the pension contribution among them, so a running-staff employee’s pay base for those is 1.30 times basic rather than the basic alone. For retirement benefits, the pension and the gratuity, a larger element of 55 per cent of basic is reckoned, raising the retirement base to about 1.55 times basic. The mechanism is set by the Railway Board order of 28 May 2019. The practical effect is that a loco pilot’s dearness and house rent allowances, and the eventual pension and gratuity, are computed on a higher figure than the bare basic, so the pay table above, which uses the basic alone, understates the allowances somewhat; a Loco Inspector has a 30 per cent element reckoned for pension. This pay element is the reason running-staff pay and pension run ahead of a non-running post on the same basic.

The Additional Allowance

Loco pilots and guards on the passenger, mail, and express links draw an Additional Allowance on top, by grade. It is Rs. 2,250 a month for a Mail or Express loco pilot, Rs. 1,125 for a passenger loco pilot or a motorman, and Rs. 750 for a goods loco pilot, under the Railway Board order of 2017, with dearness allowance payable on it. Unlike the pay element, the Additional Allowance does not count for pension. It is why a Mail or Express loco pilot, at the top of the running links, draws more than a goods loco pilot at the same level.

Loco Pilot: the grades and pay

The Assistant Loco Pilot rises through the cadre to Loco Pilot, and the pay rises with the grade. The mapping of grade to level varies in how sources describe it, so the ladder below should be read as indicative for the main grades.

The three main loco pilot grades, goods, passenger, and mail and express, sit at the same Level 6 basic of Rs. 35,400; they differ not in the pay level but in the running allowance rate and the Additional Allowance, which rise from goods to mail and express. A Level 6 loco pilot draws an in-hand of about Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 90,000 a month with the running allowance included, the higher end for a mail and express pilot on a busy running link. The salary by pay level chart shows the base pay at each level, to which the running allowance and the Additional Allowance are added.

Recruitment: the RRB and the aptitude test

An Assistant Loco Pilot is recruited by the Railway Recruitment Boards , and the selection has a stage that no other railway recruitment has.

After the first computer-based test and a second computer-based test in two parts, one general and one a qualifying trade test, an ALP candidate sits a Computer Based Aptitude Test, a psycho-aptitude test that checks reaction and judgment for the driving role; the final merit is weighted 70 per cent on the second computer-based test and 30 per cent on the aptitude test. Document verification and a strict medical examination follow, with an A-one visual standard, the highest, because the job is safety-critical. The eligibility marks the ALP out as a technical post, unlike the Railway Group D posts: a candidate needs a Class 10 pass and an ITI in a relevant trade, or a diploma or degree in engineering, and the base age band is 18 to 30. The most recent notification, CEN 01/2024, carried 18,799 ALP posts after revision.

Railway perks

Beyond the pay, a loco pilot draws the railway benefits in kind that come with any railway job : free medical care at railway hospitals, so no health-scheme deduction, and privilege passes and privilege ticket orders for free and concessional travel for the family. Running staff also draw a night duty allowance for the night hours worked and, being on continuous safety duty, the running allowance is the cadre’s compensation for the arduousness of the work.

Pension

A loco pilot who joined after 1 January 2004 is covered by the National Pension System , contributing 10 per cent of basic plus dearness allowance against the government’s 14 per cent, or by the Unified Pension Scheme if opted from 1 April 2025. The Old Pension Scheme is closed to post-2004 entrants. The retirement computation is richer than a non-running post, because the 55 per cent pay element is reckoned as additional pay for the pension and the gratuity, so a running-staff employee’s retirement benefits are computed on about 1.55 times basic.

See also

• Railway employees
• Railway Group D salary
• Running Allowance
• Railway Recruitment Board
• Salary by pay level
• Salary by pay level calculator
• 7th CPC salary calculator
• SSC CGL salary
• CAPF Constable salary
• Staff Nurse salary
• Central government jobs
• Pay matrix
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Take-home salary of central government employees
• Dearness allowance
• House rent allowance
• Transport allowance
• Annual increment
• Modified Assured Career Progression
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Central government employees in India

External references

• Indian Railways
• Railway Recruitment Board, Chandigarh
• Ministry of Railways
• Department of Expenditure
• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority