Understanding Basics of RRB advertised SSE vacancies on 26th June 2015

By Global Rail Network on June 28, 2015

Last updated on July 10th, 2015 at 07:26 am

Railway Recruitment Boards total 19 in numbers have advertised for 2199 posts of Senior Section Engineer (SSE) with minimum qualification of Graduate in Engineering in different cadres of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Electronics, Chemical and Metallurgical spreading 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 18-24 months presently being taken. This is the beginning of Digital Indian in recruitment process in Indian Railways and the success of this experiment will benefit all concerned.

But unfortunately the vacancies assessed is highly skewed and the aspirant has to choose the RRB carefully to serve his objective first. Look at the analysis of the vacancies of SSE in different cadre

There are no vacancies advertised from RRB Mumbai i.e. CR and WR to meet the requirement of Mumbai, Bhusawal, Vadodra, Pune and negligible from Muaffarpur and Patna etc. On 6th July RRB Mumbai has issued an amendment No. 1 and 2 advertising Mumbai vacancies. Waking up in time.
There are total 449 vacancies for Civil Engineers, of which SCR:147, SWR:43, SR:40, NR:45 and SECR:46 accounting for 70% of the posts advertised with almost nil from many of the major Railways such as SER, ER, ECR, ECOR, WR etc.
There are total 269 vacancies for Mech Engineers, of which 58:SER, 41:NER, 26:DLW, 24:SCR, 23:WCR, 22: SWR accounting for 65% of the posts advertised and almost nil from NWR, WR, CR, NER, ER,ECoR etc.
There are total 262 vacancies for Electrical Engineering of which SER: 64, SR:43,SWR:15, NR: 15, NFR: 13 accounting for about 58% of the posts advertised and almost nil from NWR, WR, ECoR, CR, ECR, ER etc.
There are total 107 vacancies for Electronic Engineering, of which SR:29, SCR:23, ER:16, SER:11 accounting for 75% of the posts advertised and almost nil from 10-12 Railways.
There are 25 posts of Chief Depot Material Superintendent 19 are from three units mainly SER, SWR and DLW.
The vacancy position from NFR increased, most probably received at the last moment and added by 13 in Civil, 16 in Mechanical, 20 in Electrical and 18 in Electronics and Communication.
There are 75 posts of CMA i.e. Chemical and Metallurgical Assistant advertised by NCR: 30, SWR:10, WCR:13, RCFRBL:8 and SCR:14. The minimum educational qualification is a Degree in Chemical or Metallurgical but with grade pay of Rs. 4200/- which is equivalent to JE for another category.

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 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, than 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 from an Engineering college. 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 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 working, acceptance in the society etc. of all the posts advertised when vacancies were advertised during 2014. You will not find difficult in searching this content.

If you are looking for stability, fixed working hours, peace of mind than the most suitable post is of RDSO, CLW, DLW, RCFRBL, Workshop, TRS, Diesel etc. Chief 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.

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 XII 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 two years and I think that it should be enough for RRB syllabus. Indian Railways consider that knowledge of all branches of engineering 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, on-line 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 VII standard shall be sufficient, and memorize simple formulas 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 which is 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, 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.