Indian Railway attracts record 2.4 cr candidates for 1.27 lakh vacancies

The Ministry of Railways successfully conducted, what can be called as one of the world’s largest recruitment exercise, for filling up critical safety and operational posts and the gargantuan exercise has reached completion stage.

For a total of 63,202 vacancies for Level-I posts (erstwhile group D), an unprecedented 1.9 crore candidates applied for these posts. In the case of 64,371 posts of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs) and Technicians, about 47.45 lakh candidates had applied.

The applications were in response to two recruitment notifications - one for Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs) & Technician (CEN 01/2018) and the other for Level-I (erstwhile group D) posts (CEN 02/2018), released in 2018 for filling up about 1.27 lakh vacancies.

According to a Railway ministry release, Computer Based Test (CBT) for the posts was conducted in 33 shifts over 11 days from August 9 to September 4, 2018 at 440 test centres in 166 cities across India and recorded the highest number of attendance of about 36.42 lakh candidates (approximately 77 per cent).

The 2nd Stage CBT for this recruitment was conducted from January 21, 2019 to January 23, 2019 in nine  shifts having 88 per cent attendance. 

The Computer Based Aptitude Test, conducted on May 10, 2019 for ALPs only, attracted  attendance of about 84 per cent. This was followed by Document Verification and Medical Examination.

Panels for the posts of ALP & Technician (CEN 01/2018) of about 17,500 posts have been furnished to the Railways.  The rest of the panels are under process due to medical appeal cases. The Zonal Railway will soon be advised about the rest of the panels.

The mega CBT for Level-1 posts (erstwhile Group D), which commenced from September 17, 2018 and successfully completed on December 17, 2018,  was conducted in 152 shifts over 51 days in 16 cities in 405 exam centres.

A total 1,89,82,719 candidates were found eligible (approx. 1.90 crore), of whom 1,17,14,754 appeared for the Computer Based Test which is about 61.71 per cent.  This was followed by Physical Efficiency Test (PET), document verification and medical examination.

For the posts of Level-1 (CEN 02/2018), panels of about 53,000 posts have been furnished to the Railway. The rest of the panels are under process due to medical appeal cases. The Zonal Railway will soon be advised about the rest of the panels.

For the post of JE/DMS/ CMA, Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) conducted the 1st Stage Computer Based Test from May 22, 2019 to June 21, 2019  and June 26 to 28 for 24.75 lakh candidates for the posts of JE/DMS/CMA.  It was conducted in 35 shifts over 12 days at 356 test centres in 109 cities across India.  The attendance was about 62.5 per cent.

The 2nd Stage CBT for this recruitment was conducted from August 28, 2019 to September 1, 2019 in 10 shifts recording 88 per cent attendance. The candidates will be intimated shortly for document verification and medical examination.

RRBs follow the practice of direct and instantaneous communication with candidates through regular updates on web-sites and individual SMSs and emails.

Candidates are appealed to refer to these official communications only and not be misguided by false propaganda and rumours being circulated on social media, many of which are aimed at misleading the genuine candidates and adversely affecting their preparation for examination, the release added.