Railway Exams for Engineers

Introduction To Railway Exams for Engineers

The following article provides an outline for Railway Exams for Engineers. RRB (Railway Recruitment Board) is the department under the Government of India that recruits employees (Group C and Group D non gazetted civil service) to work in Indian Railway. Every year close to 50 Lakh -1 crore candidates apply for RRB exams to work in one of the world’s largest railway systems and be part of it. But the hard part is that there are only a few vacancies present to fill up the seats.

Different types of exams conducted by RRB are as follows:

ALP (Assistant Loco Pilot) and Technician
RRB NTPC (Non-Technical Popular Categories)
RRB SSC|JE (Junior Engineer)
RRB Group D Exam

Key Takeaways

RRB JE is an exam conducted for engineers (diploma and degree) for technical posts.
The highest number of vacancies will be available for civil, electrical and mechanical engineers compared to other branches.
Exam patterns and questions will be based on the post applied. Thus, candidates need to prepare according to their branch syllabus properly. The difficulty level asked will be just above or equal to the diploma level.

RRB JE (Junior Engineer)

RRB conducts the JE exam for recruiting technical posts in railways. Candidates need to have their engineering diploma/ degree have eligibility to work for railways as JE. Previously (2019) around 13k vacancies were opened for RRB JE Broadly RRB will recruit from these branches.

Mechanical Engineering and its Allies (Production/Tool and Die Making/Automobile etc.)
Civil Engineering
Electrical Engineering and its Allies (Control Systems/ Instrumentation etc.)
Electronics and its Allies (Computer Science/ Information Technology/ Information Science etc)
Printing Technology

RRB JE Posts

RRB recruits engineers for the following posts:

JE
JE (IT)
JE – DMS (Depot Material Superintendent)
JE – CMA (Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant)

Each post will have detailed sub-posts which can be found on the official website.

The highest number of vacancies were allotted for JE posts compared to others (IT, DMS and CMA). For the branches civil, electrical and mechanical branches, a good number of vacancies will be present compared to electronics, IT, chemical etc. Thus, having a diploma degree in these branches will serve good for the people aiming for RRB JE.

RRB JE Exam Process

Below are the process of the Junior Engineer Railway Recruitment Board:

1. Exam Fee

For UR: Rs 500
For categories (SC/ST/Ex-service men/PwBDs/Female etc.): Rs 250

The amount of 400 and 250 for categories (a) and (b) respectively will be refunded on appearing on 1^st stage CBT.

2. Exam Pattern

CBT Stage 1: This will be of screening in nature. A normalized score will be used for shortlisting CBT stage 2 candidates. The syllabus will include Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness and General Science. The exam will be for 90 minutes for 100 questions and candidates will earn 1 mark for each correct answer and lose 0.33 marks for each wrong answer. Unanswered questions will not be penalized. All are multiple-choice questions.
CBT Stage 2: Usually candidates will be shortlisted equal 15 times the available posts/vacancies. Railways have the right to reduce or increase the shortlisting of candidates based on the requirement. The exam will be for 120 minutes for 150 questions and candidates will earn 1 mark for each correct answer and lose 0.33 marks for each wrong answer. Unanswered questions will not be penalized. All are multiple-choice questions.

The syllabus for CBT stage 2 will include all the syllabus of CBT stage 1.

Basics of computers and applications.
Environment and pollution control.
Technical abilities: The syllabus will be pertaining to the respective engineering branches.

Minimum percentage for qualification (both CBT 1 and CBT 2) for UR is 40%, OBC is 30%, SC is 30%, ST is 25% and relaxation of 2% for PwBDs on their respective categories.

Document Verification: Candidates will be called for document verification after shortlisting in CBT stage 2 which is equal to a number of posts/ vacancies available.

Candidates need to show proof of their educational qualifications (must be diploma/degree of that particular post requirements), age, category (if applicable) and nationality. Once DV is completed, candidates will be called on board for Railways.

Official Website: http://www.rrbcdg.gov.in/

Introduction To Railway Exams for Engineers

Key Takeaways