Railway Group D Exam 2026: The syllabus for the Railway Group D exam is divided into four main subjects. You have to study Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Science, and General Awareness. Let us look at every topic you need to read in detail.
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This section has 25 questions, and it checks your basic calculation skills.
- Number System: You need to learn about whole numbers, natural numbers, prime numbers, and place values.
- BODMAS: This teaches you the correct order to solve math equations (Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction).
- Decimals and Fractions: You must know how to convert fractions into decimals and how to add or multiply them.
- LCM and HCF: Finding the lowest common multiple and highest common factor of different numbers.
- Ratio and Proportion: This involves mixture problems and finding missing values when two ratios are compared.
- Percentages: You will calculate the percentage increase or decrease of a value, which is very common in daily life.
- Mensuration: You have to memorize formulas to find the area, perimeter, and volume of shapes like squares, circles, and cylinders.
- Time and Work: These questions ask how many days a group of men or women will take to finish a specific job.
- Time and Distance: You will solve problems related to train speeds, how long it takes a train to cross a bridge, and relative speed.
- Simple and Compound Interest: This checks if you can calculate the interest a bank gives on a loan over a few years.
- Profit and Loss: You will find the buying price, selling price, and discount given on items.
- Algebra: Basic equations where you have to find the value of x or y.
- Geometry and Trigonometry: You need to know the properties of triangles and circles, along with basic sin, cos, and tan values.
- Elementary Statistics: Finding the mean, median, and mode of a group of numbers.
- Age Calculations: Puzzles where you have to find a person’s current age based on clues from the past.
- Calendar and Clock: Finding the exact day of the week for a past date or the angle between the clock hands.
- Pipes and Cistern: Calculating how much time two pipes will take to fill a water tank.
General Intelligence and Reasoning
This section has 30 questions and is usually the most scoring part of the exam.
- Analogies: You have to find the matching relationship between words or numbers.
- Alphabetical and Number Series: Guessing the next number or letter in a given sequence.
- Coding and Decoding: Cracking the secret logic used to spell a specific word.
- Mathematical Operations: Solving an equation after swapping plus and minus signs as per the instructions.
- Relationships: These are blood relation puzzles, like finding how a person in a photograph is related to you.
- Syllogism: Reading weird statements like “all cats are dogs” and deciding which conclusion is true.
- Jumbling: Arranging words or sentences in the correct, meaningful order.
- Venn Diagram: Using overlapping circles to solve grouping problems.
- Data Interpretation: Reading information from a chart or graph to answer questions.
- Conclusions and Decision Making: Reading a short story or fact and making a logical choice.
- Similarities and Differences: Finding the odd one out from a group of four options.
- Directions: Finding the final direction or distance after a person walks left, right, North, or South.
General Science This section has 25 questions. The railway board strictly follows the 10th standard CBSE syllabus for this.
- Physics: You will study Newton’s laws of motion, speed, work, energy, and power. You also need to read about sound waves, light reflection, mirrors, and electricity concepts like Ohm’s law.
- Chemistry: The main topics are chemical reactions, acids, bases, salts, and the pH scale. You also need to study the properties of metals, non-metals, and carbon compounds.
- Biology: This part gets the most questions. You have to study plant life, cell structure, and human body systems like digestion and breathing,. You also need to know about vitamins, genetics, human diseases, and the environment,.
General Awareness and Current Affairs
This section has 20 questions. You do not need to read deep history for this.
- Current Affairs: You should know the major news events from the last 6 to 8 months.
- Sports: Questions about who won the recent Olympics, World Cups, or national tournaments.
- Culture: Famous classical dances, festivals, and temples of different states.
- Personalities: Important people who got new awards, government posts, or recently passed away.
- Economics and Politics: Basic knowledge about the Indian constitution, new government schemes, and banks.
- Science and Technology: Recent satellite launches by ISRO or new defense missiles.
2. Exam Pattern
The Railway Group D exam is conducted online, which is known as a Computer Based Test (CBT). The entire question paper has 100 multiple-choice questions, and the total marks for the exam are 100. This means that for every correct answer, you will be awarded exactly 1 mark.
You will be given a total of 90 minutes to complete the exam. However, candidates who are physically disabled and use a scribe will get 120 minutes. You have to be very careful while guessing answers because there is a negative marking system. For every wrong answer you select, 1/3 of a mark will be deducted from your total score.
Here is the exact distribution of questions and marks for each subject:
| Section | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks |
| General Science | 25 | 25 |
| Mathematics | 25 | 25 |
| General Intelligence and Reasoning | 30 | 30 |
| General Awareness and Current Affairs | 20 | 20 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
3. Eligibility
To apply for the Railway Group D exam, you must first meet the basic educational qualification. The minimum requirement is a 10th class pass (Matriculation) from any recognized board in India. For some specific technical roles, having an ITI certificate or a National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC) from NCVT is asked, but a simple 10th pass certificate is fully enough for general posts like Trackman and Peon,.
The normal age limit to apply for the exam is 18 to 33 years. However, because many students lost time during the COVID-19 pandemic, the railway board gave a special 3-year relaxation for the recent exams, making the general age limit 18 to 36 years. The government also provides standard age relaxations for reserved categories. OBC candidates get an extra 3 years (up to 39 years), and SC/ST candidates get an extra 5 years (up to 41 years).
Medical fitness is extremely important in the railways. Even if you pass the written exam, you must clear the medical test. The medical standards are divided into A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2 categories depending on the job. Your eyesight must be very good, and tests for color blindness and night vision are strictly conducted.
4. Salary
A job in Railway Group D falls under Pay Level 1 of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC). Your starting Basic Pay will be Rs. 18,000 per month. Along with this, the Grade Pay is Rs. 1,800. But the best part about a railway job is the extra allowances you get on top of your basic pay.
You will get a Dearness Allowance (DA), which was recently increased to 60% of your basic pay in April 2026. You also get a House Rent Allowance (HRA) to pay for your room rent. This HRA changes based on the city you are posted in. It is 24% for big X-class cities, 16% for Y-class cities, and 8% for smaller Z-class towns,.
Additionally, you get a Transport Allowance to travel to work, and a Night Duty Allowance if you do night shifts. Trackmen get a special Risk and Hardship Allowance of Rs. 2,700 per month because their job involves working on live railway tracks. When you add all these things together, your actual in-hand salary every month will be somewhere between Rs. 22,000 and Rs. 28,000,.
5. Selection Process
The railway board selects candidates through a very simple and clear step-by-step process. You have to pass four stages to get the final appointment letter.
- Step 1: Computer Based Test (CBT): This is the first and biggest hurdle. All candidates have to sit for a 90-minute online exam. If you score above the cut-off marks in this exam, you will be called for the next stage.
- Step 2: Physical Efficiency Test (PET): Because Group D jobs require physical hard work, the railway tests your body strength. Male candidates have to lift a 35 kg sandbag and walk 100 meters in 2 minutes without dropping it. After that, they must run 1000 meters in 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Female candidates have to lift 20 kg for 100 meters in 2 minutes and run 1000 meters in 5 minutes and 40 seconds.
- Step 3: Document Verification (DV): Once you pass the running test, you will be called to the railway office to show your original documents. They will check your 10th mark sheet, caste certificate, and identity proofs to make sure everything is genuine.
- Step 4: Medical Examination: In the final step, railway doctors will perform a full body checkup. They will test your eyesight, check for color blindness, and ensure you do not have any serious physical problems that could stop you from doing your daily duty.
6. Previous Year Paper / Exam Level
The overall difficulty level of the Railway Group D exam is strictly kept at the 10th standard level. The questions are not very hard, but they test how fast you can think and calculate. The mathematics section has basic questions, but some of them can take a lot of time to calculate. The reasoning section is usually very easy and scoring. The science section asks direct factual questions that are lifted straight from the 9th and 10th class school books.
If you want to understand the true level of the exam, you must look at the previous year papers from 2018 and 2022. The railway board has a habit of repeating the exact same type of questions in every exam. Solving these old papers is the best way to understand the exam pattern. Because millions of students apply for this exam, the real challenge is not the difficulty of the questions, but the heavy competition and managing your time in those 90 minutes.
7. Cut-Off
The cut-off marks are the minimum numbers you need to score to pass the written exam and go to the physical test. It is important to know that the cut-off is never the same for everyone. It changes completely depending on which Railway Zone you applied for. Zones with high populations like Chandigarh, Allahabad, and Ajmer always have a very high cut-off. On the other hand, zones like Chennai or Guwahati see slightly lower cut-offs.
In the 2022 exams, candidates from the general (UR) category who got a raw score of around 60 to 65 were in a safe zone. After the railway applied the normalisation formula, these scores increased to a 70 to 80 percentile range. To be completely safe in upcoming exams, you should aim to score at least 70 to 75 marks out of 100. Even though the official passing marks are just 40% for the general category and 30% for reserved categories, the actual merit list is made at a much higher score.
8. Preparation Strategy
To crack this exam, you need a smart 4-month preparation plan. Start by focusing on your weak subjects first.
- Mathematics Plan: Spend the first month clearing your basic concepts. You should learn multiplication tables up to 30, and memorize square roots and cube roots. This will make your calculation speed very fast. Practice math questions for 2 hours every single day.
- Reasoning Plan: This is the easiest subject. Spend 1.5 hours daily solving 50 mixed questions. Focus heavily on puzzles, seating arrangements, and coding-decoding. You can easily score full marks here if you practice daily.
- Science Plan: Read the 9th and 10th class NCERT science books line by line. Do not rely only on shortcut guides. Biology gives you the most questions, so study human body systems and plant life deeply. Give 2 hours daily to science and make short notes of important formulas.
- Current Affairs Plan: Give 30 minutes to 1 hour daily to read current affairs from the last 6 to 8 months,. Make a small diary where you write down the names of recent award winners, sports champions, and new railway projects.
In the last month before the exam, stop reading new books. You should only solve one full mock test every day. Check your mistakes after the mock test and revise those specific topics. Also, do not forget to go for a 30-minute run every morning. Many brilliant students pass the written exam but fail the physical running test because they only sit and study all day.
9. Job Profile (Work)
The job profile changes greatly depending on the exact post you get assigned. The most common and widely known post in Group D is the Trackman (officially called Track Maintainer Grade IV). The work of a Trackman is physically very demanding. Your main duty will be to inspect the railway tracks every day. You have to walk several kilometers along the tracks carrying heavy tools to check for broken rails or missing clips. You will have to do hard labor like packing heavy stones (ballast) on the tracks, greasing the rails, and tightening bolts. Trackmen have to work outside in the extreme summer heat, heavy monsoon rain, and freezing winters,. Sometimes, they also have to do night patrolling duties to ensure tracks are safe for midnight trains.
On the other hand, if you are posted as a Peon or an Assistant/Helper, your life is much easier. You will be working inside an office, a station, or a workshop. As a Peon, your duty will be to carry files from one officer to another, keep the office tables clean, and do basic running around. If you are a Helper in a mechanical shed, you will assist the senior fitters by handing them tools and cleaning the machine parts.
10. Vacancy / Notification
The railway board recently released a massive new notification named CEN 09/2025. Through this notice, they announced 22,195 new vacancies for Group D posts all over India. The online application link opened on January 31, 2026, and candidates were allowed to fill the forms until March 9, 2026. The computer-based exam for this new cycle is tentatively expected to be held in May 2026.
Before this, the board had issued the CEN 08/2024 notification for 32,438 vacancies. The written exams for this older cycle were completed in February 2026. However, the result is currently on hold. The Telangana High Court has put a stay order on the result announcement because of a court case filed by apprentice students over a rule change. The next court hearing is on April 15, 2026, after which the results will be released.
11. Promotion & Growth
Your career does not stop at the Group D level. The Indian Railways offers very good promotion opportunities for hardworking employees. If you join as a Trackman, you will automatically be promoted to a Keyman, then a Gangmate, and eventually you can reach the level of a Junior Engineer (JE) or even a Senior Section Engineer (SSE) based on your seniority.
If you want faster growth, the railways conduct internal exams just for its employees. These are called Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE) and General Departmental Competitive Examination (GDCE). After you complete 3 to 5 years of regular duty, you can sit for these exams. If you pass, you can quickly jump from a Group D trackman to a white-collar job like a Ticket Collector (TC), Commercial Clerk, Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP), or Station Master.
12. Posting / Transfer
When you get selected, you will be posted anywhere within the specific Railway Zone you selected in your online application. It is very hard to get a transfer back to your home state in the beginning. If you want a transfer on your own request (Own Request Transfer), you usually have to work for a minimum of 5 years first, and you will also lose your seniority when you go to the new zone,.
The fastest and best way to go home is a “Mutual Transfer”. In this system, you have to find another railway employee from your home state who is currently working there but wants to come to your state. If both of you work in the same department and have the same grade, you can swap your places with each other,.
13. Books & Resources
You do not need to buy expensive books to pass this exam. For Mathematics, the best book is “Quantitative Aptitude” by RS Aggarwal or “Fast Track Objective Arithmetic” by Rajesh Verma. These books will teach you all the shortcut tricks.
For General Intelligence and Reasoning, you should buy “A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning” by RS Aggarwal. For General Science and General Knowledge, “Lucent’s General Knowledge” is considered the bible. It perfectly covers all the basic facts you need to know.
More than reading books, you need to practice. You must buy a book of previous years’ solved papers, like the ones from Kiran Publication or Testbook,. Solving old question papers is the biggest secret to clearing the railway exam.
14. Work-Life Balance
The work-life balance completely depends on what duty you are assigned. If you get selected as an office Peon or a Helper in a workshop, you will have a standard daytime job. You will get fixed holidays and plenty of time to spend with your family in the evenings.
However, if you are appointed as a Trackman, maintaining a good work-life balance is very difficult. The job is physically exhausting. Walking for miles with heavy tools takes a huge toll on the body. During emergencies, heavy rains, or extreme winters, you might be forced to work night shifts or extra hours. This leaves you with very little energy and time for your personal life.
15. Pros & Cons
Pros: The biggest advantage is the 100% job security of a Central Government position. You get a handsome salary that arrives on time every month. You and your family will receive free, high-quality medical treatment at railway hospitals [],. You also get free train travel passes to go on holidays anywhere in India [],. After retirement, your future is safe because you get pension benefits under the NPS system.
Cons:
The major disadvantage is the intense physical labor required, especially for the Trackman post. You have to work in a highly risky environment on active railway lines. Also, your first posting could be in a very remote village or a small crossing gate, far away from city life. Without giving internal exams, your natural promotions will be very slow.
10 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the in-hand salary of a Railway Group D employee?
The starting in-hand salary is around Rs. 22,000 to Rs. 28,000 per month, depending on the city of posting and various allowances.
2. Is a 10th pass certificate enough to apply?
Yes, a 10th pass (Matriculation) certificate is the basic requirement and is fully sufficient for most Group D posts.
3. Is there any negative marking in the CBT exam?
Yes, 1/3 of a mark is deducted for every incorrect answer you give.
4. Can a Group D Trackman or Peon become a Station Master?
Yes. By giving internal departmental exams like LDCE or GDCE after a few years of service, you can get promoted to Station Master.
5. How tough is the medical test? The medical test is strictly conducted, especially for eyesight. Color blindness is not allowed for safety-critical jobs like Trackman.
6. What is the age limit for the general category?
The normal age limit is 18 to 33 years, but it was extended to 36 years for recent exams due to the pandemic.
7. Do Trackmen get extra money for their hard work?
Yes, Trackmen receive an additional Risk and Hardship Allowance of Rs. 2,700 per month.
8. Are there any interviews for Group D posts?
No, there is no interview. You are selected only based on your CBT score, physical test, and medical fitness.
9. Is this a permanent government job?
Yes, Railway Group D is a 100% permanent Central Government job with full benefits.
10. How can I get a transfer to my home state?
The fastest way to get back to your home state is by finding someone for a “Mutual Transfer” who is willing to swap places with you.