Indian Railways jobs: 2.4 crore candidates apply for 1.2 lakh vacancies

The Indian Railways has concluded, what it has termed, the largest recruitment exercise in the world. A total of approximately 2.4 crore applicants applied for 1.2 lakh vacancies, the Ministry of Railways has announced. There were two recruitment notifications that accounted for the 1.2 lakh jobs - 64,371 posts for Assistant Loco Pilots (ALP) and Technicians, and 63,202 posts for Level-I or Group D jobs.

The ministry said in a statement that 47.45 lakh candidates applied for the 64,371 ALP and Technicians posts. It means that for every seat there were 74 candidates. There were 1.9 crore candidates for the 63,202 Level-I posts. It means that for every seat there were 301 applicants.

It took 33 shifts over 11 days from August 9 to September 4, 2018 across 440 test centres to conclude the Computer Based Test (CBT) for the ALP and Technicians recruitment. The second stage of CBT was conducted in 9 shifts across three days from January 21 to January 23, 2019. The exams recorded 77 per cent and 88 per cent attendance respectively.

The CBT for Level-I was conducted in 152 shifts over 51 days in 405 exam centres. This round of exams saw 61.71 per cent attendance. It was followed by Physical Efficiency Test, document verification and medical examination.

The Railway Recruitment Board also conducted exams for 13,500 vacant posts for Junior Engineer (JE), Depot Material Superintendent (DMS) and Chemical Metallurgy Assistant (CMA). Approximately 27.75 lakh applicants applied for these jobs, which translates to 183 candidates for every post.

The CBT for the JE/DMS/CMA posts was conducted in 35 shifts over 12 days across 356 centres across India. It saw an attendance of 62.5 per cent. The second stage of CBT for this was conducted in 10 shifts and saw an attendance of 88 per cent. The candidates are yet to be intimated for document verification and medical examination.

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