Northern Railway Apprentice Recruitment 2026: 4,651 Slots, Eligibility and Apply Dates

Recruitment notice guide | 10 November 2026

Railway Recruitment Cell (RRC), Northern Railway has notified 4,651 Act Apprentice training slots for 2026–27 under the Apprentices Act, 1961. Notification No. RRC/NR/03/2026/Act Apprentice is dated 6 November 2026. Online registration is scheduled to open on 11 November 2026; candidates will have until 11 December to submit the application.

This is an apprenticeship engagement for training—not a regular railway appointment. The notification expressly states that completion of training does not create a right to absorption or require Northern Railway to offer employment.

Important dates

Official notification PDF: RRC Northern Railway — 4,651 Apprentice Notification. Apply only through the application link published on rrcnr.org when registration opens; do not use third-party forms.

Vacancies and trade selection

The 4,651 slots are distributed across Northern Railway divisions, units, workshops and trades. The detailed unit-wise and trade-wise break-up is in Annexure A of the official PDF. Candidates must select a cluster/unit in which training slots exist for their own ITI trade. The notice warns that choosing a unit without a slot for the candidate’s trade can make the application meaningless and lead to rejection. The number of slots is provisional and may change with administrative requirements.

Eligibility

Educational qualification

• Passed Class 10/Matriculation or equivalent under the 10+2 system from a recognised board.
• At least 50% aggregate marks in the 10th/Matriculation examination.
• Passed ITI in the relevant trade, issued by NCVT/SCVT recognised by the Government of India.
• Both 10th and ITI results must already be declared by the notification date, 6 November 2026; candidates whose results are awaited are not eligible under the notice.

Age limit

Age is calculated on the closing date, 11 December 2026. Applicants must have completed 15 years and must not have completed 24 years. The notice provides upper-age relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST, 3 years for OBC and 10 years for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities. Ex-servicemen relaxation is governed by the detailed conditions in the notification, including minimum service and the prescribed service-based allowance.

Reservation certificates and non-creamy-layer certificates must follow the prescribed Central Government format and validity rules. OBC-NCL certificate requirements are specifically tied to the 2026–27 recruitment year and the issue date stated in the notification.

Application fee

• General fee: ₹100, payable online.
• Fee exemption: SC, ST, PwBD and women candidates.
• Payment transaction charges, if any, are borne by the candidate.
• Keep the e-receipt and application printout for records.

Selection method: no written examination

Northern Railway will screen and scrutinise applications; the notification says there will be no written test or viva. Merit is calculated by taking the average of the percentage marks obtained in Class 10 and ITI, with equal weightage to both qualifications. A candidate with 80% in Class 10 and 90% in ITI, for example, would have a simple average of 85% before the prescribed merit and verification rules are applied.

Merit lists are prepared cluster-wise, trade-wise and community-wise in descending order. In a tie, the older candidate is preferred; if dates of birth are also the same, the candidate who passed matriculation earlier is considered first. Any mismatch between marks entered online and original documents can result in rejection.

Documents to prepare

• Class 10 certificate and marksheet (also used for date of birth proof).
• ITI consolidated marksheet and NCVT/SCVT National Trade Certificate.
• Category certificate, OBC-NCL certificate, disability certificate or ex-servicemen/armed-forces dependent certificate, where applicable.
• Photograph, signature and left-thumb impression in the specified JPG size range (10–50 KB), plus the required scanned certificates.
• Medical fitness certificate in the prescribed format for document verification.

Only one application is permitted. The notification says that multiple applications will be rejected and the fee will not be refunded. Candidates cannot edit the application after final submission; check trade, cluster, marks, category and uploaded documents before pressing submit.

Apprenticeship is training, not a permanent job

The Apprentices Act, 1961 governs the engagement. Training duration and stipend are as per the rules applicable to the notified trade; the recruitment notice does not promise a permanent post or absorption after training. Applicants should not compare the slots with regular Group C vacancies or assume railway employee status. The engagement is meant to provide supervised workplace training and trade exposure.

How to apply

1. Read the complete notification and Annexure A on the RRC Northern Railway website.
2. Confirm that the selected unit/cluster has a slot in the exact ITI trade.
3. Register with the required personal, contact and category details; retain the password sent by email/SMS.
4. Complete the application, upload certificates and photograph/signature/thumb impression.
5. Pay ₹100 online if not exempt, submit the form and save the final printout and receipt.
6. Monitor the official RRC website for merit list, document-verification and medical instructions.

Official source: Notification RRC/NR/03/2026/Act Apprentice dated 6 November 2026 · RRC Northern Railway official portal.

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