Railway Services (Implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2026: Notification

Railway Services (Implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2026: Notification No. G.S.R. 827(E). dated 16.09.2026

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(Railway Board)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, 16th September, 2026

G.S.R. 827(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to article 309 of the Constitution, the President hereby makes the following rules regulating the methods of implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme as an option under the National Pension System for the Railway servants in the Ministry of Railways, namely:-

CHAPTER-I
PRELIMINARY

1. Short title and commencement.—(1) These rules may be called the Railway Services (Implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme under the National Pension System) Rules, 2026.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Application.—Save as otherwise provided in these rules, these rules shall apply to the Railway servants, appointed substantively to railway services and posts on or after the 1st day of January, 2004 and opts for the Unified Pension Scheme as an option under the National Pension System, but shall not apply to,-

(a) persons in casual and daily rated employment;

(b) persons paid from contingencies;

(c) persons employed on contract;

(d) persons whose terms and conditions of service are regulated by or under the provisions of the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force; and

(e) persons to whom the Railway Services (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2025 apply and who have not opted for Unified Pension System; and

(f) persons to whom the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 2026 apply in accordance with any special or general order issued by the Government.

3. Definitions.—(1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) “accredited bank” in relation to a Ministry of Railways, means the Reserve Bank or any bank which is appointed to transact business of the government pertaining to Ministry of Railways and is officially recognised for transfer of funds to the Trustee Bank;

(b) “Act” means the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (23 of 2013);

(c) “Authority” means the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority established under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (23 of 2013);

(d) “Benchmark Corpus” means a corpus as specified under the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Operationalisation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025;

(e) “Code” means the Indian Railway Establishment Code;

(f) “central record keeping agency” means an agency registered under section 27 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (23 of 2013) to perform the functions of recordkeeping, accounting, administration and customer service for subscribers to schemes;

(g) “Cheque Drawing and Disbursing Officer” means a Drawing and Disbursing Officer functioning under a Ministry or Department or a Union territory, who is authorised to withdraw money for specified types of payments against an assignment account opened in his favour in a specified branch of an accredited Bank;

(h) “default pattern” means such choice of pension fund and of investment pattern, as may be determined by the Authority in respect of an individual corpus under the Unified Pension Scheme, from time to time;

(i) “Drawing and Disbursing Officer” means a Head of Office or any other Gazetted Officer so designated by the Head of Department to draw bills and make payments on behalf of that department and also include a Head of Department where he himself discharges such function;

(j) “emoluments” means the emoluments as specified in rule 5;

(k) “foreign service” means the service in which a Railway servant receives his pay with the sanction of the Government from any source other than the Consolidated Fund of India or the Consolidated Fund of a State or the Consolidated Fund of a Union territory;

(l) “family payout” means the monthly amount payable to the legally wedded spouse of a deceased subscriber and computed as per regulations;

(m) “government” means the Central Government in the Ministry of Railways;

(n) “Head of Department” means any authority whom the President may, by order, declare to be the Head of a Department for the purposes of these rules;

(o) “Head of Office” means a Gazetted Officer whom the appointing authority may, by orders declare as Head of Office and includes such other authority or person whom the appointing authority may specify in the like manner;

(p) “individual corpus” means the net asset value of units outstanding in the individual Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) of a subscriber tagged with the Unified Pension Scheme account;

(q) “legally wedded spouse” means the spouse of a subscriber whose name appears as such in the service records as on the date of superannuation or voluntary retirement or premature retirement under Code, as may be applicable, and who is surviving the deceased subscriber;

(r) “National Pension System” means the contributory pension system referred to in section 20 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (23 of 2013) whereby contributions from a subscriber are collected and accumulated in an individual pension account using a system of points of presence, a central recordkeeping agency and pension funds as may be specified by regulations by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority;

(s) “Pay and Accounts Officer” means an officer, whatever his official designation, who maintains the accounts of a Ministry, Department or Office of the Central Government or Union territory, and includes an Accountant-General, who is entrusted with the functions of maintaining the accounts or part of accounts; and a Principal Financial Adviser of a Railway or such other officers as may be appointed in this behalf by the Railway Board;

(t) “Permanent Retirement Account Number” means a unique identification number allotted to each Unified Pension Scheme subscriber by the central record keeping agency;

(u) “qualifying service” means the period of service in respect of a Unified Pension Scheme subscriber, as determined in the manner specified under regulation.

(v) “regulations” means the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Operationalisation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025;

(w) “Schedule” means the schedules annexed to the regulations;

(x) “Subscriber” means a Railway servant who opts for and is enrolled under the Unified Pension Scheme in accordance with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Operationalisation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Regulations, 2025.

(y) “switch facility” means a one-time facility available to Unified Pension Scheme subscriber under these rules;.

(z) “Trustee Bank” means a banking company as defined in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949);

(za) “Unified Pension Scheme” means the option available to employees of the Central Government, who are covered under the National Pension System, in terms of the Unified Pension Scheme Notification;

(2) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Railway Services (Implementation of the National Pension System) Rules, 2025, the Railway Services (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2025, in the Code, the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 2026, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (23 of 2013) or the Pension Fund Regulatory and the Development Authority Regulations have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act, Code, rules or regulations.