Central Railway Apprentice Recruitment 2026: 2,861 Act Apprentice Slots, Apply by 2 December

Railway Recruitment Cell, Central Railway has opened Central Railway apprentice recruitment 2026 for 2,861 Act Apprentice training slots, with online applications running from 3 November 2026 at 11:00 AM to 2 December 2026 at 5:00 PM, the cell said in Notification No. RRC/CR/AA/2026, dated 3 November 2026. Central Railway apprentice recruitment 2026 covers five clusters: Mumbai with 1,712 slots, Bhusawal with 500, Pune with 271, Nagpur with 221 and Solapur with 157. The slots are provisional and may increase or decrease depending on Central Railway's administrative requirements, and the notified totals already include PwBD and ex-servicemen slots, which must not be added separately.

Notification	RRC/CR/AA/2026, dated 3 November 2026
Training slots	2,861 Act Apprentice slots, across five clusters
Application window	3 November 2026, 11:00 AM to 2 December 2026, 5:00 PM
Qualification	Class 10 with at least 50% aggregate marks, plus an NCVT/SCVT ITI certificate in the notified trade
Age limit	15 to 24 years as on 3 November 2026
Monthly stipend	Rs. 9,600 during one year of training
Application fee	Rs. 100; SC, ST, PwBD and women candidates exempt
Selection	Merit list from Class 10 and ITI marks; no written examination or interview
Merit list date	Not announced yet

Central Railway apprentice recruitment 2026: who can apply

Central Railway apprentice recruitment 2026 is for ITI-trained candidates, and two restrictions at the top of the notification decide many applications before they start. First, a Class 10 pass alone is not enough: applicants must have passed Class 10 with at least 50 per cent aggregate marks from a recognised board and hold a National Trade Certificate, or a provisional certificate, in the relevant ITI trade issued by NCVT or SCVT. Second, engineering graduates and diploma holders are not eligible under this notification at all, since they are covered by a separate apprenticeship scheme, and candidates who are currently undergoing apprenticeship training, or who have already completed it, should not apply. Applicants must choose only one cluster, and must make sure their ITI trade has training slots available in the units of that cluster.

The age limit is 15 to 24 years as on 3 November 2026, with upper-age relaxation of 5 years for SC and ST candidates, 3 years for OBC candidates and 10 years for PwBD candidates, and separate conditions for ex-servicemen set out in the notification. The notification gives date-of-birth ranges for each category: 3 November 2002 to 3 November 2011 for general candidates, 3 November 1999 to 3 November 2011 for OBC candidates, and 3 November 1997 to 3 November 2011 for SC and ST candidates, with both dates inclusive. The trades on offer span mechanical, electrical, engineering, computer, communication and other designated trades, including fitter, electrician, welder, carpenter, machinist, turner, mechanic diesel, mechanic motor vehicle, electronics mechanic, instrument mechanic, computer operator and programming assistant, painter, sheet metal worker, mason, blacksmith, pipe fitter and plumber, cable jointer, wireman and stenographer, but not every trade is available in every cluster or workshop, so the trade-wise and unit-wise tables on pages 5 to 15 of the notification must be checked before choosing preferences.

Central Railway apprentice recruitment 2026: clusters, stipend and training terms

Mumbai holds well over half the slots, and its largest units are Matunga Workshop with 547 slots, Parel Workshop with 272 and Carriage and Wagon (Coaching) at Wadi Bunder with 258. Bhusawal's 500 slots include Carriage and Wagon Depot with 122 and Electric Locomotive Workshop with 118. Pune's 271 slots are led by Diesel Loco Shed with 121, while Nagpur's 221 include Carriage and Wagon Depot with 54, and Solapur's 157 include Kurduwadi Workshop with 56. Selected apprentices will train for one year at the chosen Central Railway unit or workshop, and will receive a monthly stipend of Rs. 9,600, as specified under Railway Board letter RBE No. 116/2025 dated 11 November 2025. That figure is the notified apprenticeship stipend, not the basic salary of a permanent railway employee, and hostel accommodation is not provided, so selected candidates must arrange their own accommodation during training.

The training terms carry a clear limit that applicants should understand before applying. This is apprenticeship training under the Apprentices Act, 1961, not permanent railway employment, and completing the training does not guarantee a job or automatic absorption into railway service; the railway administration is not obliged to offer a permanent post afterwards. Selected candidates must enter into a Contract of Apprenticeship Training before the programme begins, and for selected applicants who are minors, the contract must be entered into by their guardian. Document verification and training commencement dates have not been announced yet.

Central Railway apprentice recruitment 2026: selection and how to apply

There is no written examination and no interview. Selection rests on a merit list calculated from the simple average of Class 10 percentage marks and ITI percentage marks, followed by document verification and a medical fitness check. Applicants should therefore enter both sets of marks exactly as they appear on their certificates, without rounding or estimating. The application fee is Rs. 100 for candidates who are not covered by the notified exemptions, while SC, ST, PwBD and women candidates are exempt, and payment is made online by debit card, credit card, internet banking, UPI or wallet through the integrated payment gateway. The fee is non-refundable, and the cell advises candidates whose payment is deducted without confirmation to use the Verify Payment option and check the original transaction before paying again, since duplicate payments may not be refunded.

Apply online only, through the official Railway Recruitment Cell, Central Railway website at rrccr.com, before 5:00 PM on 2 December 2026. Applications sent by post or any other offline method will not be accepted. Open the notification, confirm the chosen trade is notified for the chosen unit, apply for one cluster only, and keep the confirmation for document verification. Apply only through rrccr.com and pay only through its official gateway: no agent can secure a slot, and any message asking for money beyond the notified fee, or promising a place on the merit list, should be treated as fraud. Readers comparing apprentice openings should also read the HCL Malanjkhand trade apprentice recruitment for 171 seats, which uses a different merit formula and a two-step registration, and the Indian Bank apprentice recruitment for 1,500 posts, which is a 12-month bank training programme rather than railway workshop training. The bank's regular officer opening published alongside this story, SBI security officer recruitment for 60 posts, is a different kind of opportunity altogether, open only to serving or former military and paramilitary officers.

Sources: Railway Recruitment Cell, Central Railway, Notification No. RRC/CR/AA/2026, dated 3 November 2026, as summarised by FreeJobAlert; official website, rrccr.com.