The RRB Group D exam, conducted by India’s Railway Recruitment Boards to fill Level 1 posts across Indian Railways, is one of the country’s largest recruitment exercises by applicant volume, and its exam dates have a recent history of revisions worth understanding clearly.
Current Cycle: CEN 09/2025 Exam Dates
The active RRB Group D recruitment cycle, CEN 09/2025, covers 22,195 Level 1 vacancies for posts including Pointsman, Assistant, Track Maintainer, Assistant Loco Shed, Assistant Operations, and Assistant TL & AC. The detailed notification was released on January 31, 2026, with the online application window running from January 31 to March 9, 2026 (extended from an initial March 2 deadline), and fee payment closing March 11, 2026. The application correction window was open from March 12 to 21, 2026.
The Revised CBT Schedule
The Computer-Based Test (CBT) for CEN 09/2025 was originally announced with a tentative window of August 3 to 21, 2026, but was subsequently revised to run across 16 exam days: August 3-6, 9-14, 17-21, and 25, 2026. This revised schedule, confirmed via an official RRB notice, extended the exam window through August 25, 2026 to accommodate the scale of the recruitment, with roughly 87 lakh candidates registered to appear for the 22,195 available posts.
Admit Card and Exam City Details
The RRB Group D admit card for CEN 09/2025 began releasing from July 31, 2026, issued phase-wise corresponding to each candidate’s specific exam date. Ahead of the admit card, the exam city and date intimation link, along with the Travel Authority download for SC/ST candidates, typically goes live around 10 days before a candidate’s specific exam date, while the e-call letter itself becomes available approximately 4 days before the exam, both released through the official RRB regional websites rather than any third-party platform.
Exam Pattern
The RRB Group D CBT runs for 90 minutes and covers questions from Mathematics, General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Science, and General Awareness on Current Affairs. Negative marking applies at one-third (0.33) of a mark deducted for each incorrect answer. Candidates must bring their printed call letter along with a valid original photo ID to the exam center, and Aadhaar-linked biometric authentication is conducted at the centre before entry, making it important for candidates to ensure their Aadhaar remains in unlocked status within the UIDAI system ahead of their exam date.
What Happened With the Previous Cycle (CEN 08/2024)
For context on how RRB Group D scheduling has behaved recently, the previous cycle, CEN 08/2024, covering 32,438 vacancies, had its CBT 1 held from November 27, 2025 to February 10, 2026, a period that itself involved multiple reschedulings due to court cases, normalization disputes, and administrative factors. The provisional answer key for that cycle was released February 17, 2026, with the final result declared July 1, 2026, illustrating that the full cycle from CBT to result can span several months even once the exam itself concludes.
Selection Process Beyond the CBT
Clearing the CBT is only the first stage of RRB Group D selection. Candidates who qualify proceed to a Physical Efficiency Test (PET), followed by Document Verification and a Medical Examination. The PET has historically required candidates to meet specific running-based fitness standards within set time limits, differing by gender, making physical preparation alongside academic study an important part of overall exam readiness for this particular recruitment.
Staying Updated Given the History of Revisions
Given that both the current CEN 09/2025 cycle and the preceding CEN 08/2024 cycle experienced schedule revisions after initial announcement, candidates are strongly advised to treat any single published date as provisional until confirmed close to the exam itself, and to check official RRB regional websites or the central rrbapply.gov.in portal directly rather than relying solely on news aggregator sites, some of which can lag behind official updates or repeat outdated information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the current RRB Group D CEN 09/2025 exam dates? The revised CBT schedule runs across 16 exam days: August 3-6, 9-14, 17-21, and 25, 2026.
How many vacancies are available in the current RRB Group D cycle? 22,195 Level 1 vacancies under CEN 09/2025, against approximately 87 lakh registered candidates.
When was the result for the previous RRB Group D cycle (CEN 08/2024) released? The final result for CEN 08/2024 (32,438 vacancies) was released on July 1, 2026, following a CBT conducted between November 27, 2025 and February 10, 2026.
Disclaimer: RRB Group D exam dates have been revised multiple times in recent recruitment cycles. Always confirm current dates directly on your regional RRB’s official website or rrbapply.gov.in before finalizing travel or exam-day plans.