Replying to questions, she said the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) is being reviewed. "We have to examine (the recruitment process) and address lacunae. We will come back once we have done the review."

She said there were issues of regional aspirations and problems in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Guwahati over RRB exams. "We are reviewing the entire process."

Of the total sanctioned strength of 15,66,964 employees, there were 1,72,444 vacancies, she said. Most of the vacancies were in Group 'C' at 1,12,566, followed by Group 'D' at 58,329. There are 1,549 vacancies in A and B, she said.

"Any large organisation like the Railways will have certain vacancies at any point of time. Arising of and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process," she said. "Vacancies arise due to normal retirement, voluntary retirements, deaths, promotions or creation of posts. Vacancies are filled primarily through open market recruitment and promotions."

To a separate question, she said there was a backlog of 1,814 vacancies of SCs in Group 'C' service of the Railways and 1,688 for STs. There is no backlog of vacancies of SC and ST in recruitment for Group A and B.

Banerjee said special recruitment drive will be launched to fill SC and ST vacancies at the earliest.

Railways employs 13,94,520 regular employees with the highest number of 9,07,510 in Group 'C'. Group 'D' has 4,70,879 regular employees. In Group 'A' and 'B' there are 7,968 and 8,163 regular employees respectively.

"Outsourcing (of jobs) is resorted to where technical expertise is not available in Railways," she said.

"Earlier, outsourcing was done in areas of catering and cleanliness of stations. We have received some complaints and it has now been decided to introduce departmental catering in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains," she said.