Pakistan Railways Headquarters has extended the deadline for submitting applications for Assistant Train Driver positions, giving candidates additional time to apply after technical problems disrupted the process.

According to railway officials, interested applicants can now submit their forms until January 25, 2026. The extension was granted after the National Job Portal experienced a technical glitch for nearly two days, preventing many candidates from completing and submitting their online applications on time.

Officials said the decision was taken to ensure fairness and to provide equal opportunity to all eligible candidates who were affected by the system outage. Railway authorities stressed that no further extensions are likely, urging applicants to complete their submissions well before the new deadline.

Under the ongoing recruitment drive, Pakistan Railways plans to hire a total of 417 Assistant Train Drivers across its seven railway divisions. The highest number of vacancies has been allocated to Karachi division with 182 posts, followed by Sukkur 66, Multan 51, Peshawar 33, Rawalpindi 30, Quetta 29, and Lahore 26 positions.

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To be eligible, candidates must have passed Matriculation along with a three-year Diploma of Associate Engineering (DAE) from a recognized institution.

The recruitment will follow an approved quota system, under which 60% seats are reserved for open merit, 20% for children of railway employees, 10% for express service workers, 5% for minorities, and 5% for orphans.

Railway officials have advised applicants to apply through the National Job Portal as soon as possible to avoid last-minute technical issues and ensure successful submission.