RRB Group D Expected Cut-Off 2026: Zone-Wise & Category-Wise Analysis After Answer Key

9 September 2026 min read

The RRB Group D Answer Key 2026 is now available, and candidates appearing under CEN 09/2025 can check their question paper, recorded responses and provisional answers.

With the answer key out, the biggest question among candidates is now:

What will be the RRB Group D Cut-Off 2026?

The Railway Recruitment Boards have not yet released the official CBT cut-off for CEN 09/2025. Official cut-offs will be declared zone-wise and category-wise along with or around the CBT result.

However, based on the current recruitment's:

22,195 vacancies
zone-wise vacancy distribution
recent Group D cut-off trends
level of competition
answer-key stage
previous RRB Level-1 results

we can estimate a realistic range for PET shortlisting.

Important Disclaimer

The numbers below are expected cut-off ranges prepared for analysis only.

They are not official RRB cut-offs.

The actual cut-off may be higher or lower depending on normalization, candidate performance, attendance, category-wise vacancies and final answer-key changes.

RRB Group D Expected Cut-Off 2026 – Quick Overview

RRB's detailed CEN confirms 22,195 Level-1 vacancies, 100 questions in 90 minutes and one-third negative marking.

RRB Group D Expected Cut-Off 2026 – Category-Wise

Before looking at individual zones, candidates can use the following broad expected range as a first benchmark.

Category| Expected Competitive Range UR| 75–82 OBC-NCL| 72–80 EWS| 69–78 SC| 64–74 ST| 58–70

These are broad ranges.

The actual cut-off can vary substantially from one RRB to another.

A candidate scoring 75 may be in a strong position in one zone but borderline in another.

RRB Group D Expected Zone-Wise Cut-Off 2026

The following table gives a practical expected range after considering current vacancies and recent Railway Level-1 trends.

RRB Zone| UR| OBC| SC| ST| EWS Ahmedabad| 74–78| 71–76| 64–70| 59–66| 69–74 Ajmer| 77–80| 74–78| 67–73| 61–68| 72–77 Bengaluru| 80–84| 77–82| 70–77| 64–72| 75–81 Bhopal| 78–81| 76–80| 70–75| 64–70| 74–79 Bhubaneswar| 76–80| 73–78| 66–72| 59–67| 70–76 Bilaspur| 76–79| 73–78| 66–72| 61–68| 70–76 Chandigarh| 75–79| 72–77| 65–72| 60–67| 69–75 Chennai| 79–82| 76–80| 69–75| 62–70| 73–78 Gorakhpur| 77–81| 74–79| 67–74| 61–69| 71–77 Guwahati| 78–81| 75–80| 69–75| 63–70| 73–78 Kolkata| 78–82| 75–80| 68–75| 62–70| 72–78 Mumbai| 78–82| 75–80| 69–75| 63–70| 73–79 Patna| 79–83| 77–81| 69–76| 62–70| 74–80 Prayagraj| 79–83| 76–81| 70–76| 64–71| 74–80 Ranchi| 74–78| 71–76| 63–70| 60–67| 68–74 Secunderabad| 79–83| 77–81| 69–76| 64–71| 73–79

Important

These are estimated raw-score style ranges for candidate guidance, not official normalized scores.

The final RRB shortlisting score may differ after the prescribed normalization methodology is applied.

RRB uses a normalization methodology for multi-shift CBT examinations, so candidates should not assume their raw answer-key score will necessarily equal their final score.

Which Zones May Have the Highest Cut-Off?

Based on current competition and vacancy pressure, some of the potentially higher-cut-off zones include:

Bengaluru

Bengaluru has an unusually small vacancy pool in CEN 09/2025, with only around 90 Level-1 vacancies reported for South Western Railway.

That can create very strong competition per available seat. Current recruitment trackers also indicate an exceptionally high applicant-to-vacancy ratio for this RRB.

Therefore:

Expected UR Range: 80–84

could be reasonable.

Patna Expected Cut-Off

Patna has historically remained competitive in Railway recruitment.

The latest previous Group D cycle also showed a high UR cut-off trend, with published CEN 08/2024 figures around the upper-70 range.

For CEN 09/2025:

Expected UR: 79–83

Expected OBC: 77–81

Expected SC: 69–76

Expected ST: 62–70

Candidates with 80+ raw marks before normalization should generally consider themselves competitive, though no selection guarantee can be made.

Prayagraj Expected Cut-Off

Prayagraj is another highly competitive Railway zone.

The previous CEN 08/2024 Level-1 cut-off reported for UR candidates was approximately:

78.13

with OBC also above 77.

Therefore the current expected range is:

UR: 79–83

OBC: 76–81

SC: 70–76

ST: 64–71

EWS: 74–80

Kolkata Expected Cut-Off 2026

West Bengal candidates will be particularly interested in RRB Kolkata.

CEN 09/2025 includes vacancies linked with:

Eastern Railway
Metro Railway Kolkata
South Eastern Railway-related recruitment structure

The detailed vacancy table was revised through Corrigendum No. 1, including changes to Metro Railway/Kolkata vacancies.

Based on current competition:

RRB Kolkata Expected Cut-Off

Category| Expected Range UR| 78–82 OBC| 75–80 EWS| 72–78 SC| 68–75 ST| 62–70

For a Kolkata UR candidate:

82+ = Strong position

78–81 = Competitive

74–77 = Borderline

Below 74 = Difficult, but wait for normalization and official cut-off

This classification is only an analytical estimate.

Mumbai Expected Cut-Off 2026

Mumbai has one of the larger Level-1 vacancy pools in CEN 09/2025.

Western Railway alone has more than 3,000 vacancies, while Central Railway also contributes a major number of Level-1 posts.

The large vacancy pool helps, but Mumbai also attracts a very large number of applicants.

Expected range:

Category| Expected UR| 78–82 OBC| 75–80 SC| 69–75 ST| 63–70 EWS| 73–79

Secunderabad Expected Cut-Off

Secunderabad is likely to remain one of the more competitive zones.

Reported applicant-to-vacancy ratios for CEN 09/2025 are among the highest outside Bengaluru.

Expected:

UR: 79–83

OBC: 77–81

SC: 69–76

ST: 64–71

EWS: 73–79

Ahmedabad Expected Cut-Off

Western Railway has one of the largest vacancy allocations in the recruitment.

This gives Ahmedabad candidates comparatively more vacancy support.

Reported CEN 09/2025 vacancies for Western Railway are around:

3,148

one of the highest zone allocations.

Expected range:

UR: 74–78

OBC: 71–76

SC: 64–70

ST: 59–66

EWS: 69–74

Chandigarh Expected Cut-Off

Northern Railway has approximately:

3,537 Level-1 vacancies

making it one of the largest vacancy pools in the current recruitment.

The higher vacancy number may help prevent the cut-off from rising as sharply as some lower-vacancy RRBs.

Expected:

UR: 75–79

OBC: 72–77

SC: 65–72

ST: 60–67

EWS: 69–75

Why Bengaluru Cut-Off Could Be Very High

Bengaluru is the zone candidates should treat differently.

South Western Railway has only around:

90 vacancies

in the current vacancy distribution.

A recruitment tracker analysing application data puts Bengaluru's applicant-per-seat ratio dramatically above the other major zones.

Therefore, even if the exam difficulty was similar nationally, the final PET-shortlisting cut-off could be substantially higher.

Previous RRB Group D Cut-Off – Why It Matters

The recently completed CEN 08/2024 recruitment provides a useful benchmark.

Published normalized cut-offs from that cycle included figures approximately such as:

Zone| UR| OBC| SC| ST| EWS Bengaluru| 70.29| 64.87| 62.28| 60.43| 60.40 Bhopal| 77.73| 77.41| 73.66| 67.67| 75.07 Bhubaneswar| 76.69| 75.43| 67.15| 58.19| 69.81 Bilaspur| 76.14| 75.04| 67.53| 62.23| 69.91 Chandigarh| 72.21| 70.30| 65.86| 60.70| 66.69 Chennai| 78.01| 76.66| 70.63| 63.00| 71.11 Gorakhpur| 76.49| 75.75| 68.70| 61.26| 70.01 Guwahati| 77.63| 76.97| 73.86| 66.06| 74.73 Mumbai| 77.90| 77.13| 71.31| 65.24| 74.10 Patna| 78.45| 78.28| 67.60| 61.40| 75.19 Prayagraj| 78.13| 77.32| 72.41| 66.66| 74.15 Ranchi| 72.86| 71.82| 58.94| 61.96| 61.64 Secunderabad| 77.00| 76.94| 68.93| 65.80| 69.43

These recently published previous-cycle figures are useful for understanding the likely range, but they cannot be directly copied as CEN 09/2025 cut-offs because vacancies and competition are different.

Why CEN 09/2025 Cut-Off Could Change

Several factors may shift the new cut-off.

Only 22,195 Vacancies

CEN 09/2025 contains:

22,195 vacancies.

Vacancy distribution is highly uneven.

For example, some zones have thousands of vacancies, while South Western Railway has only around 90.

That can create large differences between RRBs.

Number of Candidates

Recruitment trackers currently report approximately 52.4 lakh applications for CEN 09/2025, although candidates should treat application figures published outside the final RRB result notice as provisional.

The key issue is not only total applications.

It is:

Candidates competing per vacancy in your RRB.

Exam Difficulty

If most CBT shifts were easy to moderate, more candidates will score above 70–75.

That generally pushes cut-offs upward.

If particular shifts were difficult, normalization can help account for shift-level differences.

Normalization

RRB examinations held over multiple shifts use a prescribed normalization methodology.

RRB's published methodology uses percentile-based equivalence to account for variation between shifts.

Therefore:

Raw score ≠ guaranteed final normalized score.

This is one of the most important things candidates need to understand after checking their answer key.

Category-Wise Vacancies

Cut-offs are separately affected by vacancies for:

UR
OBC-NCL
SC
ST
EWS
Other applicable reservation categories

A zone may have a large overall vacancy count but relatively limited vacancies in a particular category.

Candidate Attendance

Applications and actual examination attendance are not the same.

The effective competition depends on the number of candidates who actually appeared and obtained competitive scores.

Final Answer-Key Changes

The current key is provisional.

Candidates can raise objections until:

15 September 2026 at 5 PM.

If RRB accepts an objection, the final answer used for evaluation may change.

That can change candidate scores slightly.

Minimum Qualifying Marks vs Cut-Off

This distinction is extremely important.

RRB has prescribed the following minimum qualifying percentages:

Category| Minimum Qualifying Percentage UR| 40% EWS| 40% OBC-NCL| 30% SC| 30% ST| 30%

These requirements are confirmed in CEN 09/2025.

But:

Qualifying marks are NOT the PET cut-off.

For example:

An UR candidate scoring 42 has crossed the minimum 40%.

That does not mean they will qualify for PET.

If their RRB's actual cut-off is 79, a score of 42 is nowhere near the shortlisting threshold.

How to Calculate RRB Group D Raw Score

The CBT marking scheme is:

Correct Answer = +1

Wrong Answer = −1/3

Unattempted = 0

The formula is:

Raw Score = Correct Answers − (Wrong Answers ÷ 3)

Example

Correct:

Wrong:

Unattempted:

Negative marks:

12 ÷ 3 = 4

Raw score:

81 − 4 = 77

So the candidate's estimated raw score is:

77/100

Is 80 Marks Safe for RRB Group D 2026?

For many zones:

80 is a strong score.

But it should not automatically be called “safe.”

For zones such as:

Bengaluru
Patna
Prayagraj
Secunderabad
Kolkata
Chennai

an 80 score may still be close to the competitive boundary depending on category and normalization.

For many OBC, SC and ST candidates, an 80 raw score would generally appear highly competitive based on current trends.

Is 75 Marks Enough?

75 is likely:

good in some lower-cut-off zones
borderline in medium zones
risky in highly competitive zones

OBC

75 may be competitive across several RRBs.

SC/ST

75 would generally be a strong raw score based on recent cut-off trends.

Again, final selection depends on normalized marks.

Is 70 Marks Enough?

For:

70 may be difficult for many zones.

OBC

70 may be borderline depending on RRB.

70 could remain competitive in several zones.

70 would be a strong score in many zones.

Candidates should not stop preparing for PET solely because an expected-cut-off table shows them a few marks below a predicted range.

Score-Wise Chance Analysis

This is an analytical guideline, not an official result prediction.

RRB Kolkata Score Analysis

For candidates from West Bengal:

For OBC/SC/ST/EWS candidates, category-specific cut-offs may be lower.

What Happens After the CBT Cut-Off?

Candidates who clear the CBT cut-off will move to the next selection stage:

Physical Efficiency Test – PET

followed by applicable:

Document Verification → Medical Examination → Final Empanelment

The detailed notification states that CBT information/results are handled through the RRBs, while subsequent PET, DV, medical and empanelment-related information is handled through the relevant Railway Recruitment Cells.

Should Candidates Start PET Preparation Now?

Yes.

Candidates scoring anywhere near or above the expected cut-off should start PET preparation immediately.

Waiting for the result wastes valuable conditioning time.

RRB Group D PET Standards

Male Candidates

Candidates are generally required to:

Carry 35 kg weight for 100 metres in 2 minutes without putting it down.
Run 1,000 metres in 4 minutes 15 seconds.

Female Candidates

Candidates are generally required to:

Carry 20 kg weight for 100 metres in 2 minutes without putting it down.
Run 1,000 metres in 5 minutes 40 seconds.

Candidates should follow the detailed CEN and subsequent PET notice for final instructions.

How to Prepare for PET Safely

Candidates should gradually improve:

1 km running
cardiovascular endurance
lower-body strength
grip strength
loaded walking
squats
lunges
recovery and mobility

Do not suddenly lift 35 kg or start maximum-speed running without conditioning.

An injury before PET can destroy an otherwise strong CBT performance.

When Will the Official RRB Group D Cut-Off Be Released?

As of 9 September 2026, RRB has not announced the CBT result/cut-off date for CEN 09/2025.

The immediate process is:

Answer Key

→

Objection Window closes on 15 September

→

Objections reviewed

→

Final answers/evaluation

→

CBT Result

→

Zone-wise/category-wise cut-off

→

PET shortlisting

Candidates should avoid social-media posts claiming an exact result date unless the date is confirmed by an official RRB notice.

How to Check Official Cut-Off When Released

Once the CBT result is published:

Visit your official RRB website.
Open CEN 09/2025 – Level-1.
Look for CBT Result / Cut-Off.
Open the cut-off PDF.
Check your RRB and category.
Compare your normalized score with the published threshold.
Check whether your roll number has been shortlisted for PET.

Candidates should follow official Railway websites only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is RRB Group D Cut-Off 2026 released?

No. As of 9 September 2026, the official CEN 09/2025 CBT cut-off has not been released.

The provisional answer key and response sheet are currently available.

What is the expected UR cut-off?

Across zones, a broad UR range of approximately:

75–82

appears reasonable, although highly competitive zones may move above this range.

What is the expected Kolkata cut-off?

Our current estimate is:

UR: 78–82

OBC: 75–80

SC: 68–75

ST: 62–70

EWS: 72–78

These are not official figures.

What is the expected Patna cut-off?

Approximately:

UR: 79–83

with category-wise ranges lower depending on reservation and vacancy distribution.

What is the expected Bengaluru cut-off?

Bengaluru could potentially be among the highest because of the very limited South Western Railway vacancy pool.

Expected UR:

80–84.

Is 80 a safe score?

80 is a strong score, but it cannot be declared universally safe because final cut-offs vary by RRB, category and normalization.

Is 75 a good score?

75 is competitive in several situations but may be borderline for UR candidates in high-competition zones.

Will raw and normalized marks be the same?

Not necessarily.

RRB follows a normalization methodology for multi-shift CBT examinations.

What are the minimum qualifying marks?

CEN 09/2025 prescribes:

UR – 40%
EWS – 40%
OBC-NCL – 30%
SC – 30%
ST – 30%

These are minimum qualifying percentages, not PET cut-offs.

When will the result be released?

RRB has not yet officially announced the CEN 09/2025 CBT result date.

What happens after CBT?

Candidates shortlisted on the basis of the CBT will proceed to the Physical Efficiency Test, followed by the applicable DV and medical stages.

Final Cut-Off Analysis

Based on the answer-key stage, vacancy distribution and recent Railway Level-1 cut-off trends:

High-Competition Zone Range

UR: approximately 79–84

Likely examples:

Bengaluru
Patna
Prayagraj
Secunderabad
Chennai
Kolkata

Medium-Competition Zone Range

UR: approximately 76–81

Possible examples:

Mumbai
Guwahati
Gorakhpur
Bhopal
Ajmer
Bilaspur
Bhubaneswar

Relatively Lower Expected Range

UR: approximately 74–79

Possible examples:

Ahmedabad
Chandigarh
Ranchi

These labels are relative only.

There is no genuinely “easy” RRB Group D zone.

Conclusion

The RRB Group D CEN 09/2025 answer key is out, but the official cut-off has not yet been declared.

For candidates analysing their response sheets, the current broad expected ranges are:

UR: 75–82+

OBC: 72–80

EWS: 69–78

SC: 64–74

ST: 58–70

Highly competitive zones such as Bengaluru, Patna, Prayagraj, Secunderabad and Kolkata may move towards the upper side of these ranges.

However, candidates should remember three things:

Expected cut-off is not official cut-off.

Raw score is not necessarily the final normalized score.

Minimum qualifying marks do not guarantee PET shortlisting.

Candidates who are anywhere close to the predicted range should start PET preparation now rather than waiting for the CBT result.

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