RCF Kapurthala Apprentice Recruitment 2026 – 734 Posts | Indian Railways

Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, under the Ministry of Railways, released this recruitment notification on 7 August 2026 on its official website. As per Notice No. A-1/2026, RCF Kapurthala is engaging Act Apprentices for training in nine trades at its Technical Training Centre in Kapurthala, Punjab. Applications are open online, and the last date to apply is 5 September 2026, till 24:00 hours. RCF Kapurthala Apprentice Recruitment 2026 is for 10th-pass, ITI-qualified candidates who want hands-on technical training with Indian Railways.

The notification covers a total of 734 Act Apprentice vacancies. A full trade-wise, category-wise breakdown follows below. The place of training is the Technical Training Centre, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala. Candidates should check all details in the article below.

Information verified from the official Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala notification No. A-1/2026 dated 07.08.2026. Last verified: 9 August 2026.

Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala is recruiting 734 Act Apprentice posts across Fitter, Welder, Machinist, Painter, Carpenter, Electrician, AC & Ref. Mechanic, Mechanic (Motor Vehicle) and Electronic Mechanic trades, through Notification No. A-1/2026. The last date to apply online is 5 September 2026 at 24:00 hours, through the official RCF apprenticeship portal. Selection is through a merit list based on matriculation and ITI marks, followed by document verification and a medical examination.

Quick Summary of RCF Kapurthala Apprentice

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About Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala

Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala works under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, and manufactures passenger coaches for Indian Railways. This is added context, not part of the official notification. Confirm with the hiring office. <cite index=”33-1″>RCF Kapurthala is one of the production units of Indian Railways, alongside Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai</cite>. For a candidate, this means the apprenticeship gives hands-on exposure to large-scale coach manufacturing — a useful base for both a railway career and private-sector manufacturing roles later.

How This Vacancy Compares

Kapurthala, Punjab is where RCF’s Technical Training Centre is located; the notification does not give reporting or nearby-town travel details, so candidates should confirm reporting logistics directly with RCF once selected.

Important Dates

RCF Kapurthala’s notification gives one firm date: the closing date for applications. The application start date is not stated separately in the notification.

The notification states that on 5 September 2026, after 24:00 hours, the online application link will become inactive — candidates should not wait for the last hour to submit.

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Vacancy Details and Salary

The notification lists 734 posts across nine trades, broken down by category. Reproduced in full below.

PwBD and Ex-Servicemen figures are horizontal reservation — they sit within the UR/SC/ST/OBC totals for each trade, not in addition to them.

Editor note: the ST and PwBD columns as printed in the source PDF do not sum exactly to the printed “Total” row (ST rows sum to 56 against a printed total of 57; PwBD rows sum to 29 against a printed total of 30). This is reproduced exactly as it appears in the official notification — please cross-check the original PDF image before publishing in case of a scan/OCR misread on one row.

The notification does not mention a stipend amount. It states only that the training period and stipend will follow the extant rules and directives issued by the Railway Board from time to time. No hostel accommodation is provided; candidates must arrange their own stay during training.

Eligibility

Age limit: Candidates should have completed 15 years and not completed 24 years of age as on 05.09.2026.

• Age relaxation: 5 years for SC/ST, 3 years for OBC, 10 years for PwBD candidates.
• Ex-servicemen: relaxable by up to an additional 10 years to the extent of service rendered in the Defence Forces plus 3 years, subject to a minimum of 6 months’ continuous service, as detailed in the notification.

Since the age limit is tied to a specific cut-off date, candidates can use the site’s age calculator to check their exact eligible age as on 05.09.2026.

Educational qualification (same for all trades): Candidates must have passed 10th class or its equivalent (under the 10+2 system) with minimum 50% marks in aggregate from a recognised board, and must also possess a National Trade Certificate (NCVT) in the notified trade.

For candidates whose 10th-class result is in CGPA format, the notification gives a conversion method: multiply the CGPA by 9.5 to get the percentage, then enter this percentage (not the raw CGPA) in the online application. The same conversion logic applies to ITI marks where relevant.

Reservation documents: SC/ST candidates must produce a caste certificate from the appropriate authority at Document Verification. OBC candidates must produce both a caste certificate and a Non-Creamy Layer certificate. Ex-servicemen (and their children) must produce a discharge certificate, or an Armed Forces serving certificate for children of serving personnel.

PwBD reservation: 4% of total seats are reserved for Persons with Disability, who must produce a disability certificate from a competent Medical Board, with disability of 40% or more. Candidates not meeting this threshold should not apply under the PwBD category.

Reservation carry-forward: If the prescribed number of SC or ST candidates is not available, unfilled seats are interchanged between SC and ST. If OBC seats remain unfilled, they go to the unreserved category.

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Selection Process

Selection has no written exam or interview. It runs through a merit list, document verification, and a medical examination.

1. Merit list preparation — based on the simple average of the percentage of marks in matriculation (minimum 50% aggregate, calculated across all subjects, not select subjects) and the percentage of marks in the ITI trade certificate.
2. Tie-breaking — where two candidates have the same marks, the older candidate is preferred; if the date of birth is also the same, the one who passed matriculation earlier is preferred.
3. Final merit list — prepared trade-wise and community-wise, equal to the number of available slots, in descending order of percentage.
4. Document Verification — call letters are issued to 1.5 times the identified number of slots, so being shortlisted for DV does not guarantee a training seat.
5. Medical examination — candidates must be found fit in a medical examination, with a certificate signed by a Government-authorised doctor (Gazetted), not below the rank of Assistant Surgeon of a Central or State Hospital. Detailed physical fitness standards (height, weight, chest, vision, and other parameters) are listed in Annexure-A of the notification.

The notification states that the final result will be declared within 45 days of the closure of receipt of applications, and that document verification and scrutiny will be completed within one month of the result being declared.

Application Fee

• General / OBC / EWS candidates: Rs. 100/-, non-refundable, payable only through the online payment gateway.
• SC / ST / PwBD / Women candidates: No fee.

The notification states that a candidate whose application form is filled and completed successfully will need to pay the fee after 2 working days, through the link already provided in the form. No fee paid is refunded or held in reserve for any other exam or selection, under any circumstances.

How to Apply

1. Visit the official RCF apprenticeship application portal.
2. Register with valid personal details and keep the registration number issued during registration safe — it is needed for all future correspondence with RCF Kapurthala.
3. Fill in personal, educational and trade details carefully. The notification stresses that name, father’s name and date of birth must exactly match the Matriculation certificate — any mismatch found at Document Verification leads to cancellation of candidature and debarment.
4. Upload the required photograph and signature (see specifications below).
5. Pay the application fee online after 2 working days, through the payment link generated in the form (not applicable to SC/ST/PwBD/Women candidates).
6. Submit the application and take a printout — this printout must be produced at the time of Document Verification if shortlisted.

Documents to keep ready

• Matriculation / 10th-class certificate and marksheet
• ITI / National Trade Certificate (NCVT) in the notified trade — provisional or final
• Caste certificate (SC/ST) or caste certificate + Non-Creamy Layer certificate (OBC)
• Disability certificate from a Medical Board, if applying under PwBD (40% or more disability)
• Discharge certificate, if applying under Ex-servicemen quota (or serving/discharge certificate of parent for their children)
• Passport-size colour photograph: 3.5cm x 3.5cm, not older than 3 months, JPG/JPEG format, 100 DPI, file size 20 KB–70 KB, clear front view without cap or sunglasses — plus two extra printed copies for Document Verification
• Signature: 3.5cm x 3.5cm, JPG/JPEG format, 100 DPI, file size 20 KB–30 KB
• Active mobile number and valid email ID, kept active through the entire process
• Medical fitness certificate (to be brought at the Document Verification stage, as per the format in Annexure-A of the notification)

Since the photo and signature must meet exact pixel and file-size limits, candidates can use the site’s photo and signature resizer tool to get them into the required format before uploading.

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Should You Apply?

This notification suits 10th-pass candidates who already hold, or are about to complete, an ITI/NCVT trade certificate in one of the nine listed trades, and who are looking for structured, government-backed technical training rather than a permanent salaried post. With 734 seats across nine trades, the competition is real but broad — trades like Welder (220 seats) and Fitter (180 seats) offer more openings than smaller trades like Painter, Carpenter or Electronic Mechanic (40–20 seats each), which tend to see tighter competition per seat.

The honest trade-off candidates should weigh: this is a training engagement, not a job. The notification is explicit that completing the apprenticeship does not create any right to be absorbed into RCF or Indian Railways afterward, and the employer is under no obligation to offer employment on completion. No hostel is provided, so candidates from outside Kapurthala need to plan their own stay during the training period. For candidates who complete the training, a National Apprenticeship Certificate is a recognised credential that can support applications to RRC Group D and other technical recruitment later — but that outcome depends on future notifications, not this one.

Candidates who already hold a Railway apprenticeship offer, or who need guaranteed employment rather than training, may want to weigh this against direct Group D or technician recruitment instead.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I am Sandeep Khati, the founder of India Job Alerts. I hold a B.Tech in Computer Science from JGEC (2010). My career began as a Systems Engineer at TCS, and I have been active in the digital publishing space since 2011, starting with the launch of SearchDarjeeling.com and my work as a web developer and designer at Darjeeling Informatics.

Launched in April 2025, India Job Alerts is my most focused project to date. I am dedicated to publishing verified government and PSU job notifications for candidates in West Bengal, Sikkim, and across India. To guarantee accuracy, I personally cross-check every post against official notifications before publishing. Know more

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