The Railway Recruitment Cell, Northern Railway, has opened online applications for 4,651 Act Apprentice training slots, with registration beginning today, 11 November. The recruitment drive, conducted under the Apprentices Act of 1961, is one of the largest apprentice openings announced by Indian Railways this year.
Interested and eligible candidates can apply through the official website, rrcnr.org. The application window will remain open until 11 December 2026 at 11:59 pm. The notification, bearing number RRC/NR/03/2026/Act Apprentice, was released on 6 November.
The 4,651 training slots are spread across six clusters: Lucknow, Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Moradabad and Jammu. The vacancies cover various divisions, workshops and units of Northern Railway, and the training will be for a period of one year.
To be eligible, candidates must have passed Class 10 with at least 50 per cent marks and hold an Industrial Training Institute certificate in the relevant trade, issued by the National Council for Vocational Training or a State Council for Vocational Training. Both qualifications must have been completed on or before 6 November 2026, and candidates who are still waiting for their Class 10 or ITI examination results are not eligible.
The prescribed age limit is 15 to 24 years as on 11 December 2026. The application fee is Rs 100, although candidates from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, persons with benchmark disabilities and women candidates are exempt from the fee.
Selection will be based on merit, calculated from the marks obtained in Class 10 and in the ITI examination. There will be no written examination and no interview. A provisional merit list is expected to be displayed in February 2027.
Candidates are advised that this is a one-year apprenticeship training engagement, not a permanent railway job, and that completion of the training does not guarantee permanent employment with Northern Railway. The apprenticeship is, however, a valuable route into the railway system, providing practical training and experience in a trade.
To apply, candidates should visit rrcnr.org, read the official notification carefully, and submit their application online before the deadline. The website carries the full details of the cluster-wise vacancies, the trade-wise distribution and the documents required.
The recruitment comes at a time when government jobs remain among the most sought-after opportunities in India, and the Northern Railway apprentice drive is expected to attract a large number of applicants. With 4,651 slots on offer and a straightforward merit-based selection process, it is one of the most accessible routes into the railways for young people with a Class 10 and ITI background.
Applicants should ensure that they meet all the eligibility conditions before applying, and that they submit their forms well before the closing date of 11 December, to avoid last-minute difficulties with the website.
