Excellent job opportunity for Diploma holders in Indian Railways

Last updated on March 20th, 2019 at 09:50 am

Railway Recruitment Boards total 19 in numbers have advertised for 981 posts of Junior Engineer in different cadres of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Electronics, IT and Depot Material Superintendent spread all over Zonal Railways and Production units on 26^th June 2015. The online application will close on 26^th July 2015 with the online examination to be held between 22^nd Aug 2015 to 5^th Sept 2015. It is surprising to find that even though all the formalities related to the examination held in the month of Dec. 2014 still not completed yet fresh vacancies have been advertised. Therefore, this advertisement for recruitment cannot be without a specific purpose and objective.

Indian Railways is experimenting “On-Line Examination” and the best cadre suitable for such online examination can only be where the minimum educational qualification of the appearing candidates makes the experiment successful. Indian Railways is certainly in a hurry to develop this system so that the recruitment process is simplified, transparent, without any chance of manipulation and completed within the minimum possible timetable. This system will certainly help in ensuring yearly recruitment in all cadres instead of 18-24 months presently being taken. This is the beginning of Digital Indian in the recruitment process in Indian Railways and the success of this experiment will benefit all concerned.

Junior Engineer is the lowest grade supervisory post and also called the backbone of Railways. This is an excellent job opportunity for diploma holders in Indian Railways. 50% of the posts fallen vacant in Junior Engineering grade are filled up by direct recruitment and the vacancies advertised in on this account. 20% of the post of Senior Section Engineer is filled up by direct recruitment and the vacancy of SSE is with minimum educational qualification of a graduate in engineering is also advertised. The competition for JE becomes tough because the eligibility is both graduate and diploma in engineering. The problem gets worsened because graduate engineers either will not join JE posts or even if he joins, he leaves at the first opportunity.

The vacancies assessed is highly skewed because it is with an objective of stabilizing online examination. In any case, the vacancy of 981 for JE is on a very low side as compared to SSE which is 2199 in number. The table below gives the analysis of posts:

Analysis of posts advertised

1. The vacancies advertised for JE is almost half as compared to SSE which is very unusual.
2. There are no vacancies advertised from RRB Mumbai i.e. CR and WR to meet the requirement of Mumbai, Bhusawal, Vadodara, Pune and negligible from many more Railways. On 6th July RRB Mumbai has issued an amendment No. 1 and 2 advertising Mumbai vacancies. Waking up in time.
3. There are five principle cadres namely Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and IT. The education qualification is overlapping and, if comfortable, can opt for vacancies in other cadres as well.
4. There are total 204 vacancies for Civil, of which NFR 30, SR 38, SWR 25, WR 24, AND WCR 21 accounting for 65% of the posts advertised with almost nil from many of the major Railways such as NCR, SECR, SER, ER, ECR, ECOR, NR etc.
5. There are total 323 vacancies for Mech, of which SWR 44, NER 53, SCR 62 AND SER 23 accounting for 60% of the posts advertised and almost nil from NR, CR, ICF, SR, ER, ECR, SR etc.
6. There are total 287 vacancies for Electrical of which SR 59, SER 56, 22 SCR 12 WR etc accounting for about 60% of the posts advertised and almost nil from WR, NR, ECoR, WCR, ER, ECR etc.
7. There are total 117 vacancies for Signal and Telecom, of which 33 SCR, 13 NR, 16 SWR. 10 ER accounting for 60% of the posts advertised and almost nil from 8-9  Railways.
8. There are 35 posts of Depot Material Superintendent of which 20 are only from two railways i.e. SWR and SER.
9. There are 15 vacancies for IT mainly NCR and ECoR. The grade is of JR but the required qualification is equivalent to Engineering. With the employment situation as prevailing, one can certainly go for it.
10. There are some interesting points also. 9 vacancies of TRD at ICF whereas there are no TRD assets in ICF.

There is a suggestion to Railways, that the number of vacancies advertised shall be uniformly distributed over all the RRBs and Railways so that each region get equal opportunity and the cut off is not highly skewed. The vacancy arising of the different railway can at the most vary by plus minus 20% and not more. During 2014 examination also, NFR advertised large many vacancies as compared to other Railways.

Which RRB to choose?

Each RRB conducts examination considering the vacancies of the zones/production units allotted to it e.g. Kolkata: SER, ER, and CLW Bhopal: CR and SECR Gorakhpur: NER, DLW, and RDSO. This will give you the fair idea of the likely posting place if you get selected. Therefore, if you are very sensitive to posting near to your home place then select the RRB which covers your dwelling place. If that is not the criteria and finding a job is the most important priority, choose the RRB advertising maximum number of vacancies. This will improve your chances of selection based on the basic principle of probability. Don’t be in the impression, that once posted, you can plan for transfer to the place of your choice. This is very difficult if not impossible.

How to prioritize the options?

The designation of the post advertised is not so easy for a fresh graduate engineer or diploma holder. He cannot understand the meaning of P-way, Works, etc. in Civil, GS, TRD, TRS, etc. in Elect., C&W, Diesel etc. in Mechanical. It is also not clear why to advertise in this manner when the syllabus is the same and there is no way a candidate can make his opinion about the post which suits his temperament. I have posted the job profile, likely place of posting, stability, opportunities to contribute in the development of Railways, hours of work, acceptance in the society etc. of all the posts advertised when vacancies were advertised during 2014. You will not find difficulty in searching this content.

If you are looking for stability, fixed working hours, peace of mind that the most suitable post is of RDSO, CLW, DLW, RCFRBL, Workshop, TRS, Diesel etc. Depot Material Superintendent is also one such post. The post of SSE/Track machine is quite a tough working requiring to be away from your place of posting for a  considerable time. One should keep in mind that change of category at a later date is impossible.

Syllabus for the examination

Be careful in observing the syllabus. For technical ability and general science, accounting for 90 marks, the syllabus for all posts is same except CMA which is Basic Concept of Science (Class X standard), Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Computers, Environment and Measurement, and Engineering Drawing/graphics. You will find it difficult to grasp and accept easily when you are required to read the subjects which are not part of the branch you have graduated. But it is a fact. Remember, you have studied all branches of engineering during the first 12 or 18 months,  and the content you have studies shall be sufficient for the purpose of  RRB syllabus. Indian Railways consider that knowledge of all branches of engineering is a must for you to work satisfactorily in Railways.   Environment and Measurement Engineering is generally not studied during Engineering course, and therefore, I have compiled study material of environment engineering along with mock drill online test,  and similarly, for measurement engineering, online mock drill test is available and knowledge bank on the subject is given in the remarks column of the test result.

60 marks relate to your general awareness, arithmetic, and general intelligence and reasoning. Current affairs knowledge will help you in general awareness. Arithmetic of class up to VIII standard shall be sufficient, and memorize simple formulas and multiplication table to handle such questions. There are many books providing a question bank of general intelligence and reasoning and attempting three to four mock drills shall be OK if you score 80-90% marks in such tests,

What level of knowledge is enough?

The questions will not be very difficult, but it is the wide range of syllabus and the number of candidates appearing,  which makes the completion a  tough call for you. It is always better to make a group of 4-5 friends of each branch of engineering. They should share the knowledge of his field of engineering with others and help him in preparation of the course and each one of them contribute in preparation of others. After you finish your syllabus, an attempt at least 10 mock drills online test. Online practice will help in building confidence, the essential part of your preparation for the examination. You will find such tests on this website shortly.