he notification is officially released, applications are open, and the last date to apply is 27 September 2026. What is not yet available: the shortlist for document verification (tentatively expected 15 October 2026), and any exam or interview schedule, since this recruitment does not involve a written test.
Southern Railway, through the Office of the Chief Workshop Manager, Carriage & Wagon Works, Perambur, released Notification No. 01/2026 (CPB/P1/98/Act/TP/Vol.XXI) on 28 August 2026, inviting online applications for engagement as Act Apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961. This covers a large number of trades spread across Divisions, Workshops, and Units under Southern Railway’s jurisdiction. It’s worth saying upfront: this is a training engagement, not a job offer. The notification itself states there is no guarantee of employment once training ends.
That distinction trips up a fair number of candidates every apprentice cycle. People treat Act Apprentice recruitment like a Group C or Group D hiring drive, then feel misled when nothing automatic follows a year or two of training. It doesn’t work that way for Act Apprentices — that’s the RRB/RRC apprentice route, and this is a different scheme entirely, run directly by the zonal railway under apprenticeship law.
Key Dates for Southern Railway Act Apprentice 2026
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Notification released | 28-08-2026 |
| Online application start | 28-08-2026 |
| Online application closes | 27-09-2026, till 5:00 PM |
| Tentative document verification shortlist | 15-10-2026 |
All dates above come from the official notification. The 15 October date is explicitly marked “tentative” in the notification itself, so treat it as a working estimate rather than a fixed appointment.
Vacancy Breakup: 4,471 Posts
The notification lists 4,471 total posts, split into two categories: 163 under the Fresher category and 4,308 under Ex-ITI. These aren’t spread evenly. Fresher posts are limited to just four units — Carriage & Wagon Works Perambur (80), Central Workshop Ponmalai (43), S&T Workshop Podanur (20), and Railway Hospital Perambur for MLT trades (20). Ex-ITI posts are grouped into three larger clusters: the Carriage & Wagon Works group (1,528), the Central Workshops Ponmalai group (1,292), and the S&T Workshop Podanur group (1,488), each pulling in multiple divisions.
One thing candidates should know before they panic over arithmetic: when you add up the category-wise reservation figures published in the notification’s own tables (UR, OBC, SC, ST, EWS), the Fresher total comes to 162, not 163, and the Ex-ITI total comes to 4,229, not 4,308. Both gaps exist in the official PDF, not in this summary. This kind of internal mismatch shows up in railway notifications more often than people expect, usually because late additions or corrections to individual unit tables don’t get reflected in every summary row. Don’t assume it’s a typo you can ignore — cross-check the specific trade and unit you’re applying for against the full PDF rather than relying on any single total, including the headline “4,471” figure, before you finalize your choice of unit in the application.
A complete trade-wise table (Fitter, Welder, Electrician, COPA, Draughtsman-Civil, MMTM, and roughly a dozen more trades, each split by UR/OBC/SC/ST/EWS/PwBD across around 15 units) runs several pages deep in the notification and isn’t practical to reproduce here in full. Check the notification PDF directly for your specific trade and unit before applying, since the number of open seats can vary sharply between two units offering the same trade.
Who Can Apply — Jurisdiction Matters More Than People Realise
Eligibility here isn’t just about qualification and age. Southern Railway restricts this recruitment to candidates ordinarily residing within its geographical jurisdiction:
- All of Tamil Nadu
- All of Puducherry
- All of Kerala
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep
- Only SPSR Nellore and Chittoor districts in Andhra Pradesh
- Only Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka
Candidates from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, or any part of Andhra Pradesh outside those two named districts are not eligible, no matter how strong their marksheet looks. This is one of the more common mistakes in apprentice applications across zonal railways — people see “Railway Apprentice” in a job alert group, apply from wherever they live, and get rejected at document verification for a residency requirement they never checked at the start. If you’re near a state border, read this section of the PDF twice before you pay the application fee.
Qualification Requirements
Fresher category:
- Fitter, Painter, Welder — 10th pass with minimum 50% aggregate
- Medical Laboratory Technician (Radiology, Pathology, Cardiology) — 12th pass with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, minimum 50%
Ex-ITI category:
- Most trades (Fitter, Machinist, Turner, Diesel Mechanic, Carpenter, Welder G&E, Wireman, Plumber, Instrument Mechanic, and several others) — 10th pass (min. 50%) plus an NCVT/SCVT ITI certificate in the relevant trade
- Electrician — same, with Science as a 10th-standard subject
- Electronics Mechanic — same, with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics in 10th
- Secretarial Assistant and Stenographer (English) — 12th pass plus relevant ITI course
- COPA/PASAA — 10th pass with National Trade Certificate in Computer Operator and Programming Assistant
The 50% minimum in 10th standard is relaxed for SC/ST and PwBD candidates. One exclusion worth flagging separately: Course Completed Act Apprentices (CCAAs), engineering graduates or diploma holders, and vocational certificate holders with a year or more of post-qualification training or job experience are not eligible for this round. If you’ve already completed an apprenticeship elsewhere or hold a diploma with work experience, don’t waste the application fee.
Age Limit (as on 28-08-2026)
Minimum age is 15 years completed. Maximum is 22 years for Fresher and Ex-ITI trades, and 24 years for MLT. Relaxation is 3 years for OBC-(NCL), 5 years for SC/ST, and 10 years for PwBD, with combined relaxations going up to 15 years for SC/ST candidates who are also PwBD.
Selection: No Written Exam, Pure Merit List
Unlike RRB NTPC or Group D recruitment, there’s no CBT here. Selection runs purely on academic merit:
| Category | Merit Calculation |
|---|---|
| Fresher | Matriculation marks converted to 200 (min. 50% aggregate, except SC/ST/PwBD) |
| Ex-ITI | Matriculation marks converted to 100 + ITI marks converted to 100 (equal weightage) |
| MLT | Higher Secondary marks (Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biology) converted to 200 |
Ties are broken first by age (older candidate preferred), then by whoever passed Matriculation earlier. This matters practically for Ex-ITI candidates especially — since ITI marks carry equal weight to Matriculation marks, a candidate with a mediocre 10th percentage but a strong ITI result stands a real chance against someone with the reverse. People sometimes assume Matriculation marks dominate because it’s listed first in most railway recruitment merit formulas; here it’s a flat 50-50 split, and that changes strategy for anyone deciding which trade or unit to prioritize based on where their stronger marksheet gives them an edge.
Stipend
| Category | Monthly Stipend |
|---|---|
| Fresher (10th std) | Rs. 8,200 |
| Fresher (12th std) | Rs. 9,600 |
| Ex-ITI | Rs. 9,600 |
The stipend rises 10% in the second year of training and a further 15% in the third year over the prescribed minimum, per the notification.
Application Fee
Rs. 100, non-refundable, paid online. No fee applies to SC/ST, PwBD, or women candidates.
How to Apply
- Go to www.sr.indianrailways.gov.in
- Navigate to News & Updates → Personnel Branch Information
- Fill the online application accurately — every field, since corrections after submission are typically not permitted in railway apprentice forms
- Submit between 28-08-2026 and 27-09-2026, before 5:00 PM
What Happens After You Apply
Southern Railway will publish a shortlist for document verification, tentatively around 15 October 2026, on the official website only. No shortlist, verification list, or result for this recruitment is issued through email, SMS, or third-party portals — the notification explicitly states that all official communication happens solely through the website link mentioned in the notification. If anyone messages you a “shortlist PDF” or a “confirmed selection list” through WhatsApp or Telegram before that date, it isn’t official until it’s on sr.indianrailways.gov.in. This is a genuinely useful habit to build for any railway recruitment cycle, not just this one — forwarded PDFs and screenshots are the single most common source of false alarms during apprentice and Group D result seasons.
At document verification, candidates claiming SC, ST, OBC-NCL, or PwBD benefits must produce the relevant certificate; failing that, they’re treated as UR for merit purposes. A medical fitness certificate under Schedule-II of the Apprenticeship Rules, 1992, from a government-authorised doctor is also required at that stage.
important links |
|
| Apply Online (Notification 01/2026) | click here (Active 28 Aug – 27 Sep 2026) |
| Download Official Notification PDF | click here |
| Official Website | click here |
| firstjob24 jobs | click here |
| join whatsapp channel | click here |
| subscribe on youtube | click here |
FAQs
Q1. If I live in Bengaluru but did my ITI in Chennai, can I apply?
No. Eligibility is based on your area of residence falling within Southern Railway’s specified jurisdiction (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, A&N Islands, Lakshadweep, SPSR Nellore and Chittoor districts of AP, and Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka) — not where you studied.
Q2. The vacancy totals don’t add up when I sum the category columns. Which number is correct?
This discrepancy exists in the official notification itself — the summed reservation-category figures come to 162 (Fresher) and 4,229 (Ex-ITI), against stated totals of 163 and 4,308. Check the specific trade and unit table you’re applying under rather than relying on the headline total, and watch for any corrigendum on the official website.
Q3. Will completing this apprenticeship guarantee me a railway job afterward?
No. The notification states clearly that this is a training engagement with no employment guarantee. Separately, 20% of vacancies in Direct Recruitment to Level 1 posts may give preference to Course Completed Act Apprentices holding a National Apprenticeship Certificate — that’s a preference in a future, separate recruitment, not automatic absorption.
Q4. I already completed an ITI apprenticeship somewhere else. Can I apply as Ex-ITI here?
Not if you hold CCAA (Course Completed Act Apprentice) status or have a year or more of post-qualification training/work experience — the notification excludes these categories from applying.
Q5. Is there a written exam for this recruitment?
No. Selection is entirely merit-based, using Matriculation and/or ITI marks depending on category, with no computer-based test involved.
Disclaimer: Dates, vacancy figures, eligibility, stipend, and fee details above are as stated in Southern Railway’s official Notification No. 01/2026, current as of 6 September 2026. The internal mismatch in category-wise vacancy totals is flagged from the notification’s own tables and should be independently verified against the full PDF for your specific trade and unit. No figures in this article are estimated or unofficial. For updates, corrigenda, or the verification shortlist, check only the official source: sr.indianrailways.gov.in.
