Everything below is taken from the Railway Recruitment Boards' own documents: the detailed Centralised Employment Notice CEN RPF 02/2024 for Constable (Executive) in the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF), its FAQ, the CBT and PET schedules, the result notices and the RRB normalisation notice. The post is Level 3 of the 7th CPC pay matrix with an initial pay of Rs 21,700.
Which cycle this is. CEN RPF 02/2024 is the newest notified RPF Constable recruitment. We checked the RRB portal's list of CENs on 13 November 2026: it runs up to CEN 09/2026, and none of the 2025 or 2026 notices is for RPF Constable. So this page describes a cycle that is already complete. A future notice may change any of these figures; the pattern here is what the last notice printed, not a promise about the next one.
The cycle at a glance
| Event | Date or figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed notice published | 14 April 2024 | Portal listing |
| Online application | 15 April to 14 May 2024 (23:59 hours) | CEN |
| Modification window | 15 to 24 May 2024, Rs 250 per occasion | CEN |
| Vacancies | 4,208 (all RRBs) | CEN, Annexure B |
| Applications | 45,38,948 paid and submitted; 45,30,288 accepted as valid | Notice of 16 July 2025 |
| CBT held | 2 to 7, 9 to 12 and 17 to 18 March 2025 | Panel notice |
| CBT result | 19 June 2025; 42,143 roll numbers shortlisted for PET/PMT/DV | Result notice |
| PET, PMT and DV | 13 November to 6 December 2025 | Schedule notice and panel notice |
| Panel and cut-off | 16 February 2026; 4,205 candidates empanelled | Panel notice |
| Zone allotment and medical notice | 23 February 2026 | Railway Board notice |
The first schedule notice (28 January 2025) gave 2 to 20 March 2025 as tentative CBT dates. The notice of 3 March 2025 revised that to 2 to 18 March 2025, and the panel notice lists the actual days.
Stages
| Stage | Nature | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Based Test (CBT) | One paper, 120 questions, 90 minutes | Merit and shortlisting for PET/PMT |
| Physical Efficiency Test (PET) | Run, long jump, high jump | Mandatory, qualifying, no marks |
| Physical Measurement Test (PMT) | Height, and chest for male candidates | Qualifying, no marks |
| Document Verification (DV) | Originals checked | Held for those who qualify PET and PMT |
| Medical examination | Category B-1 | Fitness check before appointment |
The CEN names CBT, PET/PMT and DV as the stages of the recruitment process, and describes the medical examination separately as what follows DV. In this cycle DV was held on the same day as PET/PMT for candidates who qualified, per the schedule notice of 17 October 2025.
CBT scheme
| Subject | Marks |
|---|---|
| Arithmetic | 35 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 35 |
| General Awareness | 50 |
| Total | 120 |
- 120 questions in 90 minutes. Objective type with multiple choices, 1 mark for each correct answer.
- Negative marking: 1/3 mark for each wrong answer. No mark is awarded or deducted for a question not attempted.
- The standard of the examination is Class 10 (Matric) level.
- The CEN does not describe sectional time limits or sectional cut-offs, so we do not claim any.
- Questions are available in English, Hindi and 13 regional languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu). The question is displayed in the language you opted for and in English.
- Calculators, phones, smart watches and other electronic gadgets are banned items. So are stationery items such as pens and pencils, along with belts, shoes, wallets and metallic wear.
- You need the e-call letter and a valid original photo identity. Aadhaar-linked biometric authentication is done at the centre, per the schedule notices.
- Topic lists are on the syllabus page.
Minimum pass percentage
| Category | Minimum in CBT | On 120 marks (arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|
| UR, EWS, OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) | 35% | 42 marks |
| SC, ST | 30% | 36 marks |
These are eligibility floors. Shortlisting for PET/PMT is by merit and by the 10-times ratio below, and the empanelment cut-offs were much higher: see cut-offs. Note that RRB's general normalisation notice mentions 40% and 30% bands for other recruitments "as per qualifying criteria given in the CENs"; for RPF Constable the CEN's own figures are the 35% and 30% shown here.
Physical Efficiency Test (PET)
| 1,600 metres run | 800 metres run | Long jump | High jump | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constable (Executive), Male | 5 min 45 sec | Not applicable | 14 ft | 4 ft |
| Constable (Executive), Female | Not applicable | 3 min 40 sec | 9 ft | 3 ft |
- The run gets one chance. Long jump and high jump get up to two chances each.
- PET is mandatory and qualifying. No marks are awarded.
- A candidate must qualify in all the tests to stay in consideration.
- Ex-servicemen are exempted from PET but must undergo PMT.
Physical Measurement Test (PMT)
| Category | Height, male (cm) | Height, female (cm) | Chest unexpanded, male (cm) | Chest expanded, male (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UR, EWS, OBC | 165 | 157 | 80 | 85 |
| SC, ST | 160 | 152 | 76.2 | 81.2 |
| Garhwalis, Gorkhas, Marathas, Dogras, Kumaonese and other categories specified by Government | 163 | 155 | 80 | 85 |
- Candidates who qualify the run are measured for height. Chest is measured only for male candidates.
- A male candidate below the minimum height is not measured for chest and is treated as disqualified. If the unexpanded chest is below the limit, the expanded measurement is not taken.
- A grievance about PMT has to be made within three days of the test to the Principal Chief Security Commissioner (PCSC) in whose jurisdiction the test is held.
How many are called, and the second round
- Candidates are called for PET, PMT and DV in a number equal to 10 times the vacancies in each category for Male, Female and Ex-Servicemen, on CBT merit.
- If enough of them do not qualify and a shortfall remains in any category or group, additional candidates equal to 10 times the shortfall are called for a second round. There is a maximum of two rounds.
- If Female and Ex-Servicemen vacancies are still unfilled after the second round, the posts are filled by male candidates of the respective category.
In this cycle 42,143 roll numbers were shortlisted on 19 June 2025 against 4,208 vacancies, which is about 10 to 1 (our arithmetic).
Normalisation
The CEN says normalisation of marks will be done for CBTs held in multiple shifts. The RRB notice of 4 November 2024 sets out the method used for all CENs:
- A percentile score is computed shift-wise: the number of candidates in your shift with a raw score equal to or below yours, divided by all who appeared in that shift, times 100.
- Percentile scores of all shifts are merged and used for the merit list. They are calculated to 5 decimal places to reduce ties.
- Normalised marks, used to check the minimum pass percentage, are found by interpolation against a "base shift": the shift with the highest mean among shifts whose present count is at least 70% of the average.
The cut-offs RRB published for this cycle are "normalised cut-off marks (scaled up to 100)", so they are not raw marks out of 120.
Merit, ties and appointment
- CBT marks decide the shortlist for the further stages. PET and PMT only qualify or disqualify.
- SC, ST, OBC-NCL and EWS candidates selected purely on merit, without using any relaxation, are counted against UR vacancies.
- Tie-break: the older candidate ranks higher. If the date of birth is also the same, names are placed in ascending alphabetical order (a to z).
- After DV, candidates placed in the final result are sent for a medical examination at Railway Hospitals in category B-1. The CEN says those wearing glasses or having flat foot, knock knee, squint eyes, colour blindness and other bodily infirmities are not eligible for appointment. Ex-servicemen have a different medical standard.
- The empanelled candidate is allotted to a Zone or to RPSF as per administrative requirement. In this cycle zones were allotted on merit, the candidate's preferences and available vacancies, per the notice of 23 February 2026.
- Selected candidates undergo initial training with a stipend. Passing the final examination at the end of training is a must for appointment.
Eligibility and fee (from the notice)
- Education: Class 10 pass or equivalent from a recognised Board, held on or before the closing date (14 May 2024). Candidates awaiting results were not eligible.
- Age: 18 to 28 years as on 1 July 2024. The prescribed band is 18 to 25; this CEN added a one-time relaxation of 3 years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Relaxation in the upper limit: 5 years for SC and ST, 3 years for OBC (Non-Creamy Layer), with separate provisions for ex-servicemen and for widowed, divorced or judicially separated women who have not remarried.
- Vacancies: 3,577 male and 631 female. 10% of the total (420) is horizontally reserved for ex-servicemen and 15% is for female candidates.
| UR | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 1,450 | 536 | 268 | 966 | 357 | 3,577 |
| Female | 256 | 95 | 47 | 170 | 63 | 631 |
- Fee: Rs 500, of which Rs 400 is refunded (less bank charges) on appearing in the CBT. Rs 250 for SC, ST, ex-servicemen, female, minority and Economically Backward Class candidates, refunded in full (less bank charges) on appearing in the CBT.
- PwBD: the post is not identified as suitable for persons with disabilities.
- One application only. Multiple applications lead to rejection of all and debarment.
What this means for your attempt strategy
- Break-even for guessing. A right answer is +1 and a wrong one is -1/3. Attempting pays when your chance of being right is above 1 in 4, because p x 1 - (1 - p) x 1/3 is above zero exactly when p is above 0.25. A blind guess among four options is neutral. If you can remove one option the guess is worth about +0.11 on average, and with two removed about +0.33. This is arithmetic from the marking scheme, not RRB advice.
- Net score. Net marks are right answers minus one third of wrong answers. For example, 96 right and 18 wrong gives 96 - 6 = 90.
- Time. 90 minutes for 120 questions is 45 seconds a question if you spread time evenly. That is tighter than papers with 100 questions in 90 minutes.
- Weight. General Awareness is 50 of 120 marks, about 42% of the paper, and its questions take the least time to answer.
- Physical stage. A CBT rank is not enough. The run, both jumps, height and (for men) chest all have to be cleared.
Practise the format with the 10-question mini-mock, which is free. Full CBT-pattern mocks, previous-year papers and topic practice are Pro.
What this page does not have
- The pattern of the next RPF Constable recruitment. No newer notice existed on the RRB portal on 13 November 2026.
- Shift timings, the number of shifts and attendance figures for the March 2025 CBT. We did not find an official count that we could read.
- The details of the medical examination beyond what the CEN states. It refers candidates to the Indian Railway Medical Manual.
- The fee-refund notices of September 2026 listed on the portal. We did not read them, so their dates are not reproduced.
- Pay beyond the initial pay printed in the CEN. Allowances are not listed there.
Related: Syllabus · Cut-offs · Preparation strategy