NEW DELHI, October 14 — The Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), under the Ministry of Railways, on Wednesday published the nationwide schedule for the Stage-1 Computer-Based Test (CBT-1) for 7,951 vacancies of Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC Graduate Level) advertised under Centralised Employment Notice (CEN 05/2026).
According to the examination bulletin released across all 21 zonal RRB websites, the multi-shift CBT-1 will be administered nationwide from January 15 to January 28, 2027. The notified cadres encompass Station Masters (Pay Level-6), Chief Commercial cum Ticket Supervisors (Level-6), Goods Train Managers (Level-5), Junior Accounts Assistants cum Typists, and Senior Clerks cum Typists. The Stage-1 paper tests 100 objective questions across General Awareness (40 marks), Mathematics (30 marks), and General Intelligence & Reasoning (30 marks) in a 90-minute composite window, with a one-third (1/3rd) negative marking penalty.
The Railway Board reaffirmed that CBT-1 functions strictly as a qualifying screening test to shortlist candidates for Stage-2 CBT at a ratio of 15 times the notified category-wise vacancies. City intimation slips will go live ten days prior to scheduled exam shifts, and downloadable admit cards will unlock four days ahead of examination.
The operational architecture of Indian Railways (structured across 17 administrative zones and 68 operating divisions), historical merger of the Railway Budget with the Union Budget in 2017 (on Bibek Debroy Committee recommendations), standard score normalization methods, and zonal cadre deployment are vital information areas for RRB NTPC, SSC CGL, and State PSC aspirants.