Railway GDCE Syllabus 2026: Post-Wise Topics and Study Plan

The Railway GDCE syllabus is not one list. Each zonal Railway Recruitment Cell (RRC) publishes the syllabus as annexures to its notification, and the topics depend on the post you choose. An Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) aspirant studies basic science and a trade section, a Junior Engineer (JE) aspirant studies technical subjects, and a Station Master or clerk aspirant studies general awareness, mathematics and reasoning.

This page organises the topics from the 2026 notifications of Central Railway, East Coast Railway and North Central Railway into a post-wise checklist. Use it with the annexure of your own notification, because the section weights and a few topics differ by zone.

Table of Contents

• Syllabus at a glance

• Key points to know before you start

• Common subjects: Mathematics, Reasoning and General Awareness

• ALP and Technician syllabus

• Junior Engineer syllabus

• Station Master, Goods Train Manager and clerical posts

• CBAT and typing test: is there a syllabus

• Overlap between posts

• How to cover the syllabus

• Official sources

Syllabus at a glance

Key points to know before you start

• Read the annexure for your zone: Central Railway, East Coast Railway and North Central Railway publish similar but not identical lists. Section marks also differ, for example 100 or 120 questions for Station Master and clerical posts.

• The level is mostly 10th standard: Mathematics, science and reasoning are pitched at matriculation level. The difficulty comes from speed and negative marking, not from advanced concepts.

• The JE technical section is the heaviest: It carries 100 of 150 questions in the notifications reviewed, so most of your time goes there.

• Older pages may be outdated: Earlier GDCE cycles used different section names, for example a Part A and Part B structure in Central Railway's 2026 ALP and Technician pattern. Follow the current notification.

Common subjects: Mathematics, Reasoning and General Awareness

These three subjects appear in almost every post, so they are the best place to start.

Mathematics

General Intelligence and Reasoning

Expect analogies, number and letter series, coding and decoding, syllogism, Venn diagrams, directions, classification, relationships, data interpretation and puzzles. Start with series and coding-decoding, which are quick to score, then move to syllogism and Venn diagrams.

General Awareness

The notifications list current events, Indian history, geography, polity, economy, science and technology, sports, culture and basic computer awareness. For clerical, Station Master and Goods Train Manager posts this section carries about 40 to 50 marks, so it deserves a daily habit. For JE it carries 15 marks, and for Technician Grade III about 10.

ALP and Technician syllabus

The Assistant Loco Pilot paper has four equal parts of about 25 questions each in the East Coast and North Central Railway notifications: Mathematics, Reasoning, Basic Science and Engineering, and a trade-specific section.

Technician Grade III papers use Mathematics (25), Reasoning (25), General Science (40) and General Awareness (10). General Science means physics, chemistry and life science up to the 10th standard. Technician Grade I (Signal) in the North Central Railway notification adds Basics of Computers (20) and Basic Science and Engineering (35), with sets and probability appearing in the mathematics list.

Central Railway's ALP and Technician notification also describes a trade-based Part B that is qualifying only (35 percent minimum, no relaxation), drawn from the DGT trade syllabus. Check the DGT syllabus on the Directorate General of Training website named in the notification.

Junior Engineer syllabus

The JE paper has a common part of 50 questions and a technical part of 100 questions.

Technical Abilities by exam group

Candidates choose one group at the time of application, based on their diploma or degree. The East Coast Railway addendum maps qualifications to four groups.

• Civil and Allied: Engineering mechanics, building materials, construction, surveying, concrete technology, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics, structures, railway, bridge and tunnel engineering, highways, environmental engineering, estimating and contracts. The East Coast Railway notification lists 24 topics for this group.

• Mechanical and Allied: Ten subjects from Engineering Mechanics through Thermal Engineering, covering materials, machine elements, manufacturing, fluid mechanics, and heat engines.

• Electrical and Allied: Eleven subjects from Basic Concepts through Basic Electronics, covering circuits, machines, transformers, power systems, measurements and control.

• Electronics and Allied: Ten subjects from Electronic Components and Materials through Basic Electrical Engineering.

The notifications give the full subject lists in their annexures, and the topic names above are summarised from them. Treat our list as a working checklist, and download the annexure for the exact wording.

Station Master, Goods Train Manager and clerical posts

These posts share one paper: General Awareness, Mathematics and General Intelligence and Reasoning. The weights are 40, 30 and 30 questions in Central Railway's 100-question format, and 50, 35 and 35 in the 120-question formats of East Coast and North Central Railway. The topic lists are those given under common subjects above, with general awareness covering history, geography, polity, economy, science, sports, culture and computers. Typist and accounts posts also expect typing proficiency, tested separately.

CBAT and typing test: is there a syllabus

The Computer Based Aptitude Test (CBAT) for ALP, and for Station Master in East Coast Railway, does not have a topic syllabus. It tests aptitude batteries such as perceptual speed, spatial ability and concentration. The notification points candidates to the Psycho Technical Directorate pages of RDSO for the test pattern. Each test battery must be cleared with a minimum T-score of 42.

The typing skill test for typist posts also has no syllabus. The required speed is 30 words per minute in English or 25 in Hindi, without editing tools.

Overlap between posts

If you are eligible for more than one post, a single application covers your preferences, so this overlap helps you prepare once for several posts.

How to cover the syllabus

A working employee needs a plan that fits around duty hours. Spend the first weeks on concepts, then switch to timed practice.

1. Weeks 1 to 3: Cover arithmetic and reasoning basics, 60 to 90 minutes a day, and revise 9th and 10th standard science.

2. Weeks 4 to 6: Start your post-specific section: trade syllabus for ALP, technical group for JE, general awareness notes for SM and clerks.

3. Weeks 7 to 9: Take topic-wise tests and 20-minute sectional tests, and review the errors.

4. Final phase: Attempt full-length papers in your exact post format, then revise your error log.

Official sources

The syllabus annexures sit inside each zone's notification PDF. These are the official pages used for this guide.

• East Coast Railway GDCE 2026 notification: https://www.rrcbbs.org.in/ECoR-GDCE-2026.pdf

• East Coast Railway RRC website: https://www.rrcbbs.org.in/

• North Central Railway RRC GDCE notices: https://rrcpryj.org/notice-category/gdce/

• Central Railway RRC website: https://www.rrccr.com/