RRB Isolated Categories Recruitment 2026: 191 Posts, Apply by 4 December

RRB Isolated Categories Recruitment 2026 has opened 191 posts across seven specialist roles under Centralised Employment Notification (CEN) No. 09/2026, and the form runs from 5 November to 4 December 2026. You apply online only, through rrbapply.gov.in, to one Railway Recruitment Board — and one board only. The fee is Rs 500 for most candidates and Rs 250 for the concession categories, and most of it is refunded if you actually sit the computer based test. That refund, and the one-RRB rule, are the two details worth settling before you start filling the form.

At a glance	RRB Isolated Categories 2026
Organisation	Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs), Ministry of Railways
Notification	Centralised Employment Notification (CEN) No. 09/2026
Posts	7 Isolated Category posts
Total seats	191
Application dates	5 November to 4 December 2026 (till 11:59 pm)
Fee payment last date	6 December 2026 (till 11:59 pm)
Correction window	7 to 16 December 2026 (with fee)
Application route	Online only at rrbapply.gov.in
Age limit	18 years minimum; upper limit 30 to 40 years, post-wise, as on 1 January 2027
Initial pay	Rs 19,900 to Rs 44,900 (Pay Levels 2, 6 and 7, 7th CPC)
Application fee	Rs 500; Rs 250 for SC, ST, Ex-servicemen, PwBD, Female, Transgender, Minorities and EBC candidates
Selection	Single-stage CBT, then Translation Test (Junior Translator only), Document Verification and Medical Examination
CBT date	To be announced

The RRB Isolated Categories Recruitment 2026 posts, post by post

Junior Translator (Hindi) takes the most seats by far — 79 of the 191. Lab Assistant Grade III is next with 36, then Staff and Welfare Inspector with 27, Public Prosecutor with 21, Chief Law Assistant with 17, Senior Publicity Inspector with 8, and Scientific Assistant (Training) with just 3.

Post	Pay Level	Initial pay	Age as on 1 Jan 2027	Seats
Junior Translator (Hindi)	6	Rs 35,400	18–33 years	79
Lab Assistant Grade III (Chemist & Metallurgist)	2	Rs 19,900	18–30 years	36
Staff and Welfare Inspector	6	Rs 35,400	18–33 years	27
Public Prosecutor	7	Rs 44,900	18–32 years	21
Chief Law Assistant	7	Rs 44,900	18–40 years	17
Senior Publicity Inspector	6	Rs 35,400	18–33 years	8
Scientific Assistant (Training)	6	Rs 35,400	18–35 years	3
Total				191

The category split across all posts is 98 UR, 26 SC, 14 ST, 41 OBC-NCL and 12 EWS. Of the 191, 11 seats are for ex-servicemen and 17 for PwBD candidates. The seats are provisional and can be increased, decreased or revised by the Railway Administration.

One number changed between the first notice and the final one. The indicative notice in Employment News on 24 October 2026 spoke of about 195 vacancies; the detailed CEN 09/2026, published on 5 November 2026, fixes the count at 191. Trust the 191.

Kolkata and Chandigarh have the most seats among the boards, 31 each, followed by Guwahati with 30 and Secunderabad with 21. You apply to only one RRB, so the board you pick matters — check the RRB-wise and Railway/Production Unit-wise distribution in Annexure B of the notification before you choose, because the board and the post preferences you pick cannot be changed later, even in the correction window.

Who can apply for each post

These are specialist posts, and the qualification bar is specific to each one — a degree alone is not enough for most of them.

Chief Law Assistant needs a law degree with three years of standing practice as a pleader at the Bar; serving railway employees who are law graduates with five years of service are also eligible. Public Prosecutor needs a bachelor's degree in law with five years of standing as an advocate at the Bar. Senior Publicity Inspector needs a degree plus a diploma in Public Relations, Advertising, Journalism or Mass Communication, with two years of experience desirable.

Junior Translator (Hindi) needs a master's degree in Hindi or English (with the other language at degree level), or a master's in any subject with the required Hindi/English combination at degree level, plus a diploma or certificate in Hindi–English translation or two years of translation experience in a government office or public sector undertaking.

Staff and Welfare Inspector needs graduation plus a diploma in Labour or Social Welfare, or a diploma in Labour Laws, or an LLB with Labour Laws, or a PG diploma in Personnel Management, or an MBA in Personnel Management or HR, or a PG diploma in HRM. Scientific Assistant (Training) needs a master's degree in Psychology with 50% marks. Lab Assistant Grade III is the one post open to 12th pass candidates — 12th with Physics and Chemistry.

You must hold the full qualification by the last date of application. Candidates waiting for their final results should not apply.

Age is counted as on 1 January 2027, with 18 as the minimum for every post. The upper limit runs from 30 for Lab Assistant to 40 for Chief Law Assistant. Relaxation is 5 years for SC and ST, 3 years for OBC-NCL, and 10 years for PwBD, rising to 13 years for OBC PwBD and 15 years for SC or ST PwBD. Ex-servicemen get 3, 6 or 8 years after deducting the length of service, depending on category.

The fee, and the refund most people miss

The fee is Rs 500 for all candidates except the concession categories, who pay Rs 250: SC, ST, ex-servicemen, PwBD, female, transgender, minority and EBC candidates. EBC here means a family income below Rs 50,000 a year — it is not the same as OBC or EWS.

The part worth knowing is the refund. Candidates who appear in the CBT get Rs 400 back from the Rs 500 fee, or the full Rs 250 back from the concessional fee, minus bank charges. The refund goes to the Aadhaar-seeded bank account, which is why the notification stresses linking your bank account with Aadhaar and keeping the name and date of birth in Aadhaar identical to your 10th class certificate.

Pay online only, by net banking, debit or credit card, or UPI. The fee can still be paid until 6 December 2026 for an application submitted by 4 December.

How the selection works

There is a single-stage CBT: 100 questions in 90 minutes (120 minutes for scribe-eligible candidates), with one-third of a mark deducted for each wrong answer. The minimum qualifying marks are 40% for UR and EWS, 30% for OBC-NCL and SC, and 25% for ST. For all posts except Junior Translator, the paper is 50 questions on Professional Ability, 15 on General Awareness, 15 on General Intelligence and Reasoning, 10 on Mathematics and 10 on General Science. For Junior Translator, at least half the questions test language — 20% English and 30% Hindi — with the rest on General Knowledge, General Intelligence, simple arithmetic and basic computer knowledge. The CBT is available in English, Hindi and 13 regional languages.

Junior Translator candidates then face a Translation Test, with ten times the vacancies called for it. It is qualifying, at 60% marks. After that comes Document Verification, with candidates equal to the number of vacancies called on merit, and then a medical examination against the medical standard of the post. If two candidates get equal marks, the older one ranks higher. The RRBs may hold an additional CBT if needed.

How to apply without getting rejected

Apply only at rrbapply.gov.in, and create your account with a valid mobile number and email ID. If you already have an account from an earlier RRB CEN, use the same login. Authenticate your identity with Aadhaar or DigiLocker while creating the account — candidates using other photo IDs face stricter scrutiny at every stage.

Choose one RRB and fill in your post and zone preferences in order. Fill in your details, capture your live photo, upload the required documents, and pay the fee online by 6 December 2026. Submit before 11:59 pm on 4 December 2026 and keep a copy.

Two warnings from the notification itself. Submitting more than one application leads to rejection of all applications and a ban from future RRB and RRC exams. And the details filled in the "Create an Account" form, and the chosen RRB, cannot be changed in the modification window — so get those right the first time.

What the notification does not say

The notification names no CBT date — that is to be announced. It names no exam city or admit card date either, so do not trust any site that prints one. It also leaves the vacancies provisional, so a post's numbers can move before the merit list. And it sets no training or joining date, because this is a direct recruitment to permanent railway posts, not an apprenticeship — the appointment follows document verification and medical examination.

Never pay anyone who promises to get you a seat. Genuine recruitment never charges a fee beyond what the notification itself names, and this notification names Rs 500, or Rs 250 for the concession categories, payable online only through the official portal.

A similar opening runs alongside this one: ONGC has opened 3,047 apprentice seats, also with applications closing soon, on 20 November — that one is a 12-month apprenticeship with a stipend and no exam, so it is worth comparing the two before you commit to one of them. Indian Bank has opened 1,500 apprentice seats, also through NATS, with applications closing on 25 November.

Sources: Railway Recruitment Boards, Centralised Employment Notification (CEN) No. 09/2026, detailed notification published 5 November 2026. Note: the official PDF at rrbapply.gov.in could not be opened from this browser, so the figures above were cross-checked across three independent sites that reproduce the notification — BongJobs, AdvikPost and 9curry — and all three agree on the post-wise vacancies, age limits, fee and refund, exam pattern and dates. Apply only through rrbapply.gov.in.