Everything below is taken from the Railway Recruitment Boards' own notices: the detailed Centralised Employment Notices (CEN) 08/2024 and 09/2025 for Level 1 posts, their corrigenda, schedules and the RRB normalisation notice. Group D recruitment is Level 1 of the 7th CPC pay matrix with an initial pay of Rs 18,000 in both notices. RRBs say dates are tentative, so check the official RRB websites for changes.
Two cycles to know about
| CEN 08/2024 | CEN 09/2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Notice published | 22 January 2025 | 31 January 2026 |
| Vacancies | 32,438 | 22,195 (as published; Corrigenda 1 and 2 revised the vacancy table) |
| Age band | 18 to 36 as on 1 Jan 2025 (includes 3-year one-time relaxation) | 18 to 33 as on 1 Jan 2026 |
| Application closing date | 1 March 2025 (extended from 22 Feb 2025) | 9 March 2026 (extended from 2 March 2026) |
| CBT held | 27 Nov 2025 to 10 Feb 2026 | 3 to 25 Aug 2026 |
| Objection window | 17 to 23 Feb 2026 | 7 Sept to 17 Sept 2026 |
| Status on 7 Oct 2026 | CBT result and PET shortlist published 1 July 2026 | CBT done; result not found on the RRB portal listing we checked |
CEN 09/2025 drew 52,39,760 applications (tentative), per RRB's notice of 25 August 2026. We did not find a comparable count for CEN 08/2024 that we could read.
Stages at a glance
| Stage | Nature | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Based Test (CBT) | One paper, 100 questions, 90 minutes | Merit and shortlisting for PET |
| Physical Efficiency Test (PET) | Weight carry, then a run | Mandatory, qualifying in nature |
| Document verification (DV) | Originals checked | Called in a 1:1 ratio to vacancies |
| Medical examination | Standard depends on the post | Final fitness check |
The notice lists these four stages only and adds that a second-stage CBT would be held only "where deemed necessary". Information on dates reaches candidates through the RRB and RRC websites, SMS and email.
CBT scheme
| Subject | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General Science | 25 | 25 |
| Mathematics | 25 | 25 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 30 | 30 |
| General Awareness and Current Affairs | 20 | 20 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
- Multiple-choice, 1 mark each. Negative marking: 1/3 mark for each wrong answer.
- Duration is 90 minutes, or 120 minutes for candidates eligible for a scribe.
- The notices describe the split as indicative, with possible variation in the actual paper. They do not describe sectional timers, so we do not claim any.
- Questions appear in English, Hindi and 13 regional languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu). Candidates see the question in the opted language and in English. If the two differ, the English version prevails.
- Calculators and electronic gadgets are not permitted. The CBT questions and options are shuffled for each candidate, per RRB's advisory of 11 December 2025.
- Topic lists are on the syllabus page.
Qualifying percentages
| Category | Minimum marks in CBT |
|---|---|
| UR | 40% |
| EWS | 40% |
| OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) | 30% |
| SC | 30% |
| ST | 30% |
The RRB normalisation notice applies the same percentages to Level 1 (and confirms ST at 30% for Level 1). For PwBD candidates the notice allows these percentages to be relaxed by 2 marks when PwBD candidates fall short against their reserved vacancies. These are floors on a 100-mark paper (40 or 30 marks). The cut-offs for PET shortlisting were much higher: see cut-offs.
Physical Efficiency Test
| Male | Female (transgender candidates: same relaxed standard) | |
|---|---|---|
| Carry | 35 kg over 100 metres in 2 minutes, one chance, weight not put down | 20 kg over 100 metres in 2 minutes, one chance, weight not put down |
| Run | 1,000 metres in 4 min 15 sec, one chance | 1,000 metres in 5 min 40 sec, one chance |
- Candidates are called for PET in a number equal to three times the community-wise vacancy, based on CBT merit. Railways may change that ratio.
- Carry first; failing it eliminates you. The run follows after a recovery gap.
- PwBD candidates, ex-servicemen and Course Completed Act Apprentices are exempted from PET. Ex-servicemen still have to meet the medical standards of the post.
Normalisation
Where the CBT runs in several shifts, RRBs normalise using the method in the notice of 9 February 2026:
- A percentile score is computed shift-wise: candidates in the shift with a raw score equal to or below yours, divided by all who appeared, times 100.
- Percentile scores of all shifts are merged and used for the merit list. Percentiles go to 5 decimal places to reduce ties.
- Normalised marks (used for the qualifying percentage and for the CCAA weightage) are found by interpolation against a "base shift", which is the shift with the highest mean among shifts with at least 70% of the average present count.
So the cut-off numbers RRBs publish are normalised marks, not raw scores.
Selection, merit and ties
- Merit follows the CBT score, subject to qualifying in PET. The notices say there is no other written stage unless a second-stage CBT is deemed necessary.
- Document verification calls candidates equal to the number of notified vacancies (1:1). If there is a shortfall, RRBs may go further down the merit list, but this confers no vested right.
- Tie-break: an older candidate ranks higher; if age is the same, alphabetical order of the name. CEN 09/2025 specifies the given name, not the surname.
- CCAA candidates (Course Completed Act Apprentices trained in railway establishments) get weightage for NCVT marks and are exempted from PET.
- RRBs only recommend names. Appointment is offered by the Railway Administration after medical fitness and certificate verification.
Eligibility and fee (from the notices)
- Education: 10th pass or ITI or equivalent or a National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC) granted by NCVT. An engineering diploma or degree is not accepted in place of CCAA or ITI unless the notice says so.
- Posts: 14 category lines in each CEN, including Track Maintainer Grade IV, Pointsman B and Assistants in Track Machine, Bridge, P.Way, TRD, Signal and Telecommunication, Carriage and Wagon, Loco Shed, TL and AC, and Operations (Electrical). The medical standard differs: for example, A-2 for Pointsman B and A-3 for Assistant Track Machine.
- Fee: Rs 500, of which Rs 400 is refunded after appearing in the CBT (less bank charges). Rs 250 for SC, ST, ex-servicemen, PwBD, female, transgender, minority and EBC candidates, refunded in full (less bank charges) after appearing.
- One application to one RRB. Multiple applications lead to rejection of all.
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 if 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 eliminate one option the guess is worth about +0.11 on average, and with two options 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, 85 right and 12 wrong gives 85 - 4 = 81.
- Time. 90 minutes for 100 questions is about 54 seconds a question, on average, if you spread time evenly.
- PET. Because PET is mandatory, a strong CBT score alone does not complete the selection.
Practise the format with the free 10-question mini-mock. Full CBT-pattern mocks, previous-year papers and topic practice are Pro.
What this page does not have
- The CBT result of CEN 09/2025 and any PET dates are not published on the portal listing we checked as of 7 October 2026.
- PET dates, document verification and final result for CEN 08/2024 were not found on the RRB portal listing we read.
- Post-wise or RRB-wise vacancy tables are in Annexure B of each notice and are not reproduced here.
Related: Syllabus · Cut-offs · Preparation strategy