The Indian Railways is the country's biggest employer

Highlights Indian Railways receives record number of job applications at 2.38 crore

Railways had advertised for 89,409 positions earlier this year

Scrutiny of applications underway, says railway ministry

Here are 10 things to know about Railways' mega recruitment drive:

Indian Railways has received a record number of job applications under its recruitment drive. At 2.38 crore, the number of applications received by the Railways is a whopping more than 250 times the nearly 90,000 positions. The Railways , one of the largest employers around the globe, had advertised for 89,409 positions earlier this year, according to an official release by the Ministry of Railway. From August 2015, Railway Recruitment Boards or RRBs began conducting IT-based (online) solutions for recruitment exams, giving up the practice of conducting manual exams. Since then, four such pan-India online examination have been conducted successfully for about 1.14 crore candidates, the statement noted. The ministry has said that "scrutiny of applications" is underway, advising the candidates to consult the regional websites of Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs). The Indian Railways is the country's biggest employer.1. Railway Recruitment Boards attracted about 47.56 lakh applications against 26,502 vacancies of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs) and Technicians (Level-2), and about 1.90 crore applications against 62,907 vacancies of Level-1 (erstwhile Group 'D'), according to the statement.2. The railway, which currently employs 1.3 million people, said it was filling up tens of thousands of vacant positions for engine drivers, technicians, carpenters, track inspection crews and other roles related to improving safety in the world's fourth-largest network. Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) had published two fresh notifications - on February 3 and February 10 - for a total of 89,409 vacancies.3. Terming the online examinations as the "world's largest computer based recruitment exam", the Ministry of Railway said that in conventional mode, the same tests "would have taken around 2 months".4. "It has saved about 310 crore A4 size sheets, which means a saving of about 4 lakh trees from cutting, in last four examinations alone," it further said.5. "Railways has replaced bulky, multi-lingual question booklets with online tests for its recruitment drive, which will save around 7.5 crore paper sheets, equivalent to 10 lakh trees," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said on microblogging site Twitter.6. Computer-based examination, which does not involve any interview in person, gives the candidates the flexibility of choosing among various languages for questions as well as revisiting their answers, if required.7. Online application system has saved the candidates from worries and uncertainties about postal delays or non-delivery of their applications. "They are sure of submission of their applications and get SMS and email alerts at various stages of recruitment," the statement added.

Name of Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) Website Ahmedabad www.rrbahmedabad.gov.in Ajmer www.rrbajmer.gov.in Allahbad www.rrbald.gov.in Bangalore www.rrbbnc.gov.in Bhopal www.rrbbpl.nic.in Bhubaneshwar www.rrbbbs.gov.in Bilaspur www.rrbbilaspur.gov.in Chennai www.rrbchennai.gov.in Chandigarh www.rrbcdg.gov.in Gorakhpur www.rrbgkp.gov.in Guwahati www.rrbguwahati.gov.in Jammu www.rrbjammu.nic.in Kolkata www.rrbkolkata.gov.in Malda www.rrbmalda.gov.in Mumbai www.rrbmumbai.gov.in Muzaffarpur www.rrbmuzaffarpur.gov.in Patna www.rrbpatna.gov.in Ranchi www.rrbranchi.gov.in Secunderabad www.rrbsecunderabad.nic.in Siliguri www.rrbsiliguri.org Thiruvanthapuram www.rrbthiruvanthapuram.gov.in (Source: Ministry of Railways)

8. Cautioning the applicants against "unscrupulous individuals" out to dupe them with the promise of Railway jobs, the candidates are advised to consult only the official websites of RRBs, it noted.9. "We've not been recruiting for the last couple of years and attrition is already there. And so we require people," Ashwani Lohani, chairman of the railways board, told news agency Reuters.10. The examination will be conducted online at about 300 centres and the Railways is currently working out details. Railway, which currently employs 1.3 million people, has made special arrangements to ensure that the website does not crash during the examination, news agency Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported.