In July 1942, a Service Commission with a chairman and two members was established to recruit subordinate staff on the North Western Railway.

In 1945, additional Service Commissions were set up in Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, and Lucknow, tasked with recruiting Class III staff and advising General Managers on appeals related to disciplinary matters.

In 1948, the Indian Railway Enquiry Committee recommended making these commissions permanent while withdrawing their role in appeals to focus solely on recruitment.

To cater to the needs of other regions, additional commissions were later established: Muzaffarpur (1973), Secunderabad (1978), Guwahati (1978), Bangalore (1980), and Danapur (1981).

Seven more were added in 1983, including Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Jammu & Srinagar, and Trivandrum, followed by Malda and Gorakhpur in 1984.