The Indian Railways has begun its world’s largest recruitment drive to fill up nearly 120,000 vacancies for which a whopping 24 million people have applied.

According to official sources, the examinations will be conducted in three shifts per day for 10 days.

As many as 439 exam centres have been set up in 166 cities across the country.

Question papers for conducting the examinations are being provided to the candidates in 15 languages, considering the interest of candidates belonging to different language backgrounds across the country.

The first exam was held on Thursday.

“There has been a tremendous response and an unprecedented number of more than 74 per cent candidates have attended the examination today.

“Total 359,605 candidates have participated in today’s examination.

“This attendance is a record for all railway examinations conducted so far,” said an official statement.

During the recruitment process every effort has been made to provide nearby centers to the candidates, while keeping in view the constraint of availability of suitable centres, equipped with necessary infrastructure and security provisions.

Around 83 per cent candidates have been provided centers within a distance 643 km from their homes.

Special trains are being run to help the candidates reach their examination centres, said officials of the ministry of railways said. (Xinhua/NAN)