In the second phase of the largest-ever exam in India’s history, to be held in September, the Indian Railways is looking to halve the distance that a candidate has to travel to appear for the exam — from 1,500 km to 700 km.

Candidates had protested against having to travel long distances to appear in online exams during the first phase.

This should save significant time and money for the candidates, Sachidanand Agrawal, Member-Staff, Indian Railways, told BusinessLine .

A large chunk of the over two crore applicants are from just three States — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. Consequently, the Railways is packing in exam centres in these States and surrounding locations.

The Railways is also plying special non-AC trains for passengers.

In the second phase, the Railways also plans to increase the number of centres by around 20 per cent over the 400 centres across 160 cities it used in the first phase.

‘Objection tracker’

Candidates, who can expect the results by next April, can for the first time use an e-tool called ‘Objection tracker’ after the test to check if their responses to questions match the correct answers provided by the examining authorities. “The answers to all the objective-type questions will be shared with the candidates. They can compare their answers and raise objections if any,” said Agrawal.

In the first phase, almost 77 per cent of the 47 lakh applicants sat for the papers. In the last exam held by the Railways three-four years ago, the turnout rate was about 62 per cent.

Also, given that the second phase involves conducting an exam for a staggering 1.9 crore applicants, these will be held over 30-35 days against 10 days in the current phase, which concludes on Friday for all of India except Kerala. Each day accommodates three shifts of exams.

The first phase was meant to recruit 62,000 technicians and assistant loco pilots. There were 47 lakh applicants. For the second round, in which the Railways had advertised 60,000 posts, 1.9 crore people have applied.

Security layers

Students shortlisted from stage I exams in August will have to appear in stage II exams, another layer of computer-based exams, which are also to be held in September. For these exams, the Railways has built in several security layers.

“Job-seekers have to go through security layers – like crossing metal detectors. They are not even allowed pens, pencils, papers. Stationery items are provided in the exam hall. Also, there are CCTVs in all the centres, which are tracked at all Railway Recruitment Boards, with a Central Control room in Delhi,” according to Agrawal.

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